


Past Life

by idreamofasriel



Category: Metal Slug (Video Games)
Genre: Fan Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-11 06:23:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 55,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11708670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idreamofasriel/pseuds/idreamofasriel
Summary: Strange storms, reports of Time Rifts appearing out of nowhere, a young man with an unknown stab wound, and mechanical Dragons? The Things that Marco and The Squad have to deal with to reveal Morden's new plan and the mysterious new partner helping him out





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a long time since I wrote a fanfic and I'm horribly rusty on it after I quit writing it when I was in my early twenties. Now, here I am, proud to complete this story in a few months and having it posted on my DA account, Tumblr, and my own blog.
> 
> To ask question and compliment visit my Tumblr Blog
> 
> https://idreamofasriel.tumblr.com/

“It’s no use, Major! We have to retreat before this storm gets any worst!” Tarma yelled among the roaring wind and the deafening boom of thunder. The storm showed no signs of letting up, only getting worst and making the mission impossible to complete for either side and doesn’t help that the Rebels’ man-made dam was getting ready to burst with the storm filling it up to the rim. Marco knows that Tarma is right, the heavy rain isn’t letting up and the strong wind makes it hard to hear in the chaos of the battlefield. Even if they did retreat, transportation from the sky will be out of the question and they’ll have to go by vehicles.

Earlier that day, Marco and the squad received reports that General Morden’s soldiers were moving explosive that were powerful enough to take down an entire city and there was no doubt in their minds that they are itching to do that if any cities they didn’t capture as their own refuse to surrender. This mission could have gone smoother if it wasn’t for the wayward storm. Normally, storms are the least of their problems. They get wet, covered in mud, and roughed up which can all be taken care of with warm showers, dry clothes, and bandages.

“What’s the matter, boy? Afraid of getting wet?” Allen O'Neil mocked them as he shot rounds from his M60. “At least the rain is washing away your hideous body odor.” Marco report back with thrown grenades. He took cover again when another bolt of lightning struck and felt the splinters from the wooden crates flying passed him from Allen’s shooting. Tarma took a turn shooting back at them. “Tarma, cover me while I contact Fio and Eri about those explosives before we retreat,” said Marco“We’ll have to retrieve them if they didn’t.”

Meanwhile, while Marco and Tarma struggled to keep Allen O’ Neil and his soldiers at bay. Eri is pulling and clipping wires like a barber would with hair. Fio kept her covered and shoot at any Rebel soldiers who dared to draw near. She yelped and fired back at the soldiers. “Did you get them all, Eri?” she asked her. “I’m getting there, Fio. Just keep shooting.” Eri replied, clipping more wires to the large stock of explosives. Fio took a deep breath and return more fires at the Rebels and took cover when lightning struck again. She turns quick to see where Eri is at with the defusing and almost got shot if it wasn’t for Eri’s cat like reflexes to shoot the Rebel down.

Fio heard their radio trying its best to come to life due to the interference from the storm it fought against and Marco’s voice could be heard among the crackling Static. “Fio! Eri! This is Marco speaking. Did you get to the bombs?” Fio fumbled with the radio no thanks to rain getting her hands wet and press on it. “Yes we did, Marco and Eri is almost done defusing them all.” The radio comes to life again, “We’re on our way to meet you two. Marco out.” The radio goes silent and Fio ducked just in time when a bullet whizzed by her head. “Almost done.” Eri announced and she clipped the last wire in her hand.

“Way to go, Eri.” Fio cheered for her with a delightful expression. Eri smiled back and gave her friend a thumbs up for a job well done. But the celebration was short-lived for the two women. Fio’s expression turned to frantic when she saw lightning striking down too close to comfort and was quick on her feet to yank Eri away just when another bolt of lightning struck the explosives.

Marco and Tarma felt the ground shook under their feet and soon a rambunctious boom followed with a bright light and a huge fireball shooting to the down pouring sky. “FIO! ERI!” Marco shouted with distraught and made a mad run toward the burning location with Tarma following in pursuit. Allen O'Neil wasn’t going to let them go that easy and chased and shot at them. Tarma kept Marco covered by firing back at him while taking aim at any Rebel soldiers who shot at them. Walking up the steps, Marco felt the stairs rumbling and witnessed rebel soldiers screaming and running for their lives.

Even Allen O'Neil stopped in his tracks to see why his men are running away from their enemies. “Get back to fighting them, you cowards!” He shouted at them. A rebel soldier shouted about the dam breaking and Allen O'Neil turned to the source of the sound of rushing water. Even Marco and Tarma heard it and tried to brisk up the stairs to avoid the expeditious flowing water heading to their direction. But the speed of the coming water outmatched the running soldiers and knocked Marco and Tarma over the stairs’ railing down to the river below of the now destroyed dam.

Marco opened his eyes and found himself emerged in the murky water and swam for the surface gasping for air. Frantically, he looked around for Tarma, Eri, and Fio and shouted out their names in hopes that they survived the flood. There was no sight of them and Marco looked around for dry land he can swim to and a better look for his squad. He did spot a patch of it and paddled straight for it. Almost there Marco thought to himself as he pushes his way through the current to reach for land.

It happened so fast for him. Allen O'Neil leaped out of the water with his M60 in hand and the last thing Marco saw was the butt of the gun coming down on his head.


	2. Chapter 2

A low rumble of thunder and raindrops pattered on the office window as General Morden looked out to the sleepy city. Before the war, the city was once filled with life. Young people on dates, friends hanging out, people leaving from work, or family spending time together to take a break from their busy schedule on a nice evening. Now the street is desolated of life and no one dares to leave the safety of their home out of fear of getting killed by the war outside of their home.

The office was the envy to any power-hungry tyrant like Morden would want if it wasn’t for bullets and bombshells shaking up his Head Quarter every day and having soldiers running in and out daily to patch up the holes and spackling any cracks from bullet holes that formed on the wall and ceiling. The office has a nice cherry wood desk in the center of the room and the desk was straightened and organized by the owner. He must have the cleaners come in on a daily basis to keep the office spotless.

On the desk is a stone carved statue of a male goat rearing on its hind legs, threatening to slam down his hooves on a terrified wild dog, laying on the ground defenseless and behind the fighting male goat for protection is his mate and offspring as they watched him finish the beast off. Hung on the wall of the office is a painting of an old church from the nineteenth century with five animals hanging around the church’s entrance. The first four animals hung around the steps of the church and they were a horse, a rooster, a raven and a black dog. The goat itself stood in the door’s entrance as if to prevent anyone from entering.

What caught Morden’s attention earlier was a smooth polished round stone in a display case with an etched picture of a goat with long horns and an hour glass carved onto its head. He could have sworn that he saw this stone somewhere before like in some of his researchers’ paper or out of some book. But for now, he turned his attention to the window.

Allen O'Neil Jr put away his radio and reported to Morden about the PF Squad eliminating the explosives and blowing up their dam that washed away half of their troops and Allen O'Neil. Morden slammed his fist against the window out of rage and took a deep breath in hopes to calm his anger over the latest news. “At least my dad gave Marco a good clobbering.” Allen O'Neil jr laughed heartily. Morden wasn’t laughing and he narrows his eye at Allen O'Neil Jr. “Your father can run him over with a tank, break every bone in his body, snap his neck, and bury him six feet under and that cockroach Marco will still be at our doorstep.”

Marco is a thorn in Morden’s side from the start and that said thorn has become too much of a pain for him. He can either keep scratching at it and let it sink deeper into his side or dig it out with a knife and rid of it once and for all. Today is a good day for him, even with the storm raging outside of the office won’t dampen his mood.

He stands in the office belonging to a man who calls himself Horatio and according to the research that was done on him before Morden agreed to set up a meeting with him, Horatio is the founder of the company known as Kronos Corp, a company dedicated to preserving the history of mankind and funding medical research and improving medical technology. He even used his wealth to open up wildlife sanctuaries for endangered animals and saving their homes from the threats of war and deforestation.

The big question is, what does a man who’s passion is to save and improve the lives on this planet want with General Morden? The man who’s responsible for the lives lost globally and not to mention, hunting as a hobby. The door clicks and swing and an elderly man step into the room with his secretary following behind. “I’m sorry for keeping you all waiting,” said Horatio,”My budget meeting ran longer than I thought.”

Horatio is a man in his seventies who looked haggard in appearance but once people get to know him, he’s actually full of energy for his age and it amuses him to see younger people with shocked looks on their faces. He did have a bit of a bony face, crooked nose with a slender chin and trimmed muttonchops. He has gray-peppered hair with a short ponytail and slim body. He wore a gray tailored Italian suit with a red tie held in place with a golden tie clip and on the tie clip is a golden goat’s head with ruby gems for eyes.

“It’s all right, Horatio. We didn’t wait for long anyways.” Said General Morden. As the men were seated at Horatio’s desk, his secretary poured a glass of Old Parr for Morden and the best beer that money could buy for Allen O'Neil jr. Horatio had wine served to him and he politely thanked her and send her on her way.

“Now, since I kept you waiting for too long. I got a proposal for you that will peak your interest.” Horatio smirked. General Morden sipped his drink, “Oh? What does the founder of Kronos Corp get that I would be interested in?” Morden leaned in like a curious child to see what Birthday presents his guests has given him.

Horatio chuckled and opened the center drawer of his desk and took out a rolled up blueprints and papers and extend it enough for Morden to greedily snatch it from his hand and unrolled for him and Allen O'Neiljr to see. He looked over the notes and then back at the blueprints and back at the notes again, the General was smiling at this point to be given such a powerful weapon that alone itself could make his enemies and freed cities shake with fear by looking at it. ‘You said it’s already built?” Morden asked without looking away from the papers.

“All I asked is that you let us repair it whenever it get damaged and it’s your to control.” Horatio’s hands were folded on his desk. Morden laughed, “Then you got yourself a deal, Horatio. This beauty will be the perfect weaponry we need to win this war and crush Marco’s filthy Squad to the ground.” They drank out of celebration to the new possibility of changing the tide of war in Morden’s favor and he had the acquired blueprints and papers packed away securely to prevent the rain and the wind from ruining them.

Horatio said goodbye to them as they left his office, faces beaming with the joy of the new weapon Horatio gave them. The office is quiet now that the storm have finally let up and Horatio is left in peace to enjoy the remain of his wine in his glass. The friendly smile he had on earlier is now a solemn one and he finished his wine and got up to stroll toward the window. The moon is out and the stars started to shine in the sky once again.

His office door opened and a young man in his twenties stepped in, wearing a navy blue suit with a black tie and he wore the same gold tie clip like Horatio’s. His dark golden brown hair is a mess, even if it was put in a long ponytail to keep it out of the young man’s face. “Did he accept the offer, grandfather?” He asked him. Horatio nodded, “It was too easy then we though, Jonas. We can see why his allies are quick to back stabbed him. Do you got the reports on the storm?”

Jonas was quick to move in and hand his grandfather a folder with paper reports in it. The old man gingerly took it from him and opened it up to look through the papers and shook his head. “The balance is getting worst and if we don’t find the missing source to fix it. The collapsing of Time and Space will destroy us all and earning Morden’s trust will be all for nothing.”


	3. Chapter 3

Marco didn’t know how long he lost consciousnesses no thanks to Allen O'Neil bashing him in the face with his gun. He barely recalled what happened next when he struggled to keep himself awake and alive. All Marco could recall is the surface of the swelling river moving away from him and the trail of air bubbles and a red mist of his blood escaping from him. His mind lost the fight to keep a grasp on his consciousnesses and the world around him began to grow dark. Before he blacked out, he felt a hand grabbing the back of his shirt, pulling him up.

Marco groaned in pain and opened his eyes. He laid still long enough for his vision to come back to him and tried to get up without making himself dizzy or making the pain any worst. He flinched and let out a hissing noise when he touched the injury on his head. The injury wasn’t only Marco’s concern, it’s where he was as well. He didn’t recall the forest being filled with snow, freezing, and desolated. Last he checked, it was full of life and all the trees have their leaves and the animals were running about in the woods. Of course, Fio ended up ruining half of a bumper of the jeep when a squirrel ran out in front of her.

He rubbed his arms together and wasted no time thinking about how to get out of this lifeless forest. There was no sun he can use to navigate by and he couldn’t tell if it was night either with the inky black clouds above his head and the snow falling around him. He inhaled and let out a sigh and sat down under a tree to give his head a rest for a minute to stop hurting. Marco lifted his head when he heard an animal in distress off from the distance and got up to follow it. He couldn’t ignore an animal in need and it was his duty to help all living things, man and animal.

The animal’s distress call got louder and Marco can make it out to what animal was making that sound. He pushed away the branches of the dead bushes and come into the clearing and in the clearing was a young male goat, not old enough to have his horns fully grown in but he was prepared enough to strike anyone down who dare to get near him and his wounded friend. Its nostrils flared up when it saw Marco and threateningly bleat at him to go away or else.

“I’m not here to hurt you or your friend. I heard you crying for help,” Marco held his hands up to show him that he means no harm to them. “Let me help your friend.” The goat was hesitant at first but he back away enough to make room for Marco get near his friend. Marco saw that it was a black dog, the poor animal was whimpering in pain and Marco was careful not to hurt the animal any further. “It’s all right, I’m going to-” Marco didn’t get to finish when he heard deepening bleat from behind.

He cautiously turned around and came face-to-face with a fully grown adult male goat but bigger than an average size one and menacing red eyes staring down at him. It wore a half broken hourglass around his neck on a faded strip of cloth and his horns were curled and sturdy and he bleated again at Marco. The beast didn’t dare to give Marco a chance to say or do anything as his charcoal colored hooves came down crashing on him.

 

Marco came to for the second time and he could smell the petrichor in the air (The smell of wet earth after a rainstorm.) and felt the warmth of a campfire and heard the burning wood crackling along with the harmony of nature’s evening animals. His head was aching him and he let out a small gasp of pain when he touched his bandaged head and removed his hand away from it. Warmblood stained the fingertips of his gloves but thankfully to him it wasn’t a serious amount and the gauze and bandages wrapped his head stopped most of the bleeding.

He notices that his shirt and vest and backpack are removed off of him and hung to dry out along with his now blood-stained bandanna. He’ll take care of that later when they get back to the headquarters, he got plenty of them in a drawer anyways. He steadies himself in case his wound up and makes him dizzy or light headed. He can hear familiar voices talking to each other and he knew which voice belong to who and they all stopped when they saw him woke up and trying to stand. “Marco, you’re awake!” Fio said in a relieved tone of voice. “Glad that you came back to the world of the living, Marco.” Tarma smirk, resisting to give him a friendly slap on the back. “How are you feeling, Marco?” Eri asked him with Fio checking on his gash and changing his bandages.

“Tarma! Eri! Fio! Boy, I’m glad to see all you alive and well.” Marco smiled and recoiled after Fio touched his wound with a medicine soaked cotton before putting a fresh bandage on. “There you go. A fresh bandage,” Fio smiled, “Thanks, Fio but I got a lot of questions right now starting with how did you all survive the flood?” Eri and Fio looked at each other to see who’ll tell their story first and Tarma silently nods in agreement to go next after them.

Eri and Fio took turns telling their story of survival in the flood. After the explosives were struck by lighting, Fio was lucky to escape with scratches and bruises while Eri hurt her wrist and have Fio use her bandanna to make a quick makeshift sling for it. The girls only escape route got blocked by falling rocks and debris until Eri spotted a stolen Slug tank nearby and activated the emergency flotation device when the flood struck. Their story then mixed in with Tarma’s when he began his story.

“And that’s when I saw Allen O'Neil leaped out of the water and struck you down. Eri and Fio blew him away with the Slug Tank while I dove into the water to save you from becoming fish food. I swear, I if I run into Allen again, I’m going to make my fight against him personal.” He said darkly at the end of his sentence. “Calm down, Tarma. Marco is alive with us and we can get him back to the base for a medical check up.” said Eri, nudging Tarma to calm down. “You’re the greatest friend that anyone could ask for, Tarma,” Marco grin, “And I appreciate that you want to avenge me too. But now I got another question. Where are we?”

Everyone was silence for awhile and Fio served up some food for Marco to eat before Tarma spoke up again, “To tell you the truth, we have no idea where we are after we stumbled upon this place in the storm. We didn’t get a good look and we focused on keeping you alive than on this place. But Eri can give you the details since we took turns patrolling the place and Fio nursed you back to health.” said Tarma as he scratched the back of his head. Eri straightens herself up and looked at Marco seriously.

“From my investigation, we’re either in some abandon research facility, someone’s home, or some kind of library book depository. We have no idea why this place would be out in the middle of the woods or who’s the past owner of this ruins but I did find this in one of the rooms that haven’t caved in yet.” She took out a weathered beaten leather book that has seen better days and the pages crackled under Marco’s grip. He delicately took the book and open it, lightly turning the page to keep the papers from ripping or crumbling into pieces.

The others gathered around Marco and he requested a flashlight with the room being dark and the light of the campfire wasn’t helping to see the pages. Eri handed him hers and Marco turned it on. The pages were yellow faded, creased, and some having water damaged with half of ink washed way. The words were accompanied by strange drawings no one recognizes for which culture, historical events, science research, or mythology it might belong to and it didn’t help that the writings in the book didn’t match any of the languages, both native or second language from their respective countries.

Marco closed the book and requested to have it packed away in his backpack so he can bring it back to the base for better reading and hopefully, to find any answers to translate the language to go along with the drawings. “Strange, I never see anything like it. It reminds me of the Voynich Manuscript I read about in my High School years.” said Marco, shaking his head. “Now that you think of it, I recall my school teaching us about it in history class when I was growing up.” said Tarma. “My Papa did speak about our ancestors mentioning this book but the story wasn’t complete to fully understand it.”

They stopped chatting when they noted a wooden door creaked and fell off its rusted hinges. Tarma, Fio, and Eri, with her good hand, all drew their guns at once and Marco shone a light at the direction of the noise. Standing in the doorway was a young man, he was sickly looking and barely standing on his own two feet and he struggled to keep a stab wound from bleeding anymore hence his long sleeve white shirt that is stained from it. His emerald eyes have barely any life in them and his chestnut-colored hair with some streak of white in them cling to his forehead from the sweating he was doing.

There was no point to be armed and they need to help the man out as soon as possible. Tarma dashed toward him just in time catch the man from falling to the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

The young man didn’t wake up and this worried the squad. He wasn’t dead, he was in dire need of medical attention and Fio worked constantly to give the man as much comfort as she can and looked him over. Whoever stabbed him wanted him dead but with what medical knowledge that Fio knew, they were lucky enough to get the man some help after all, if he doesn’t die on them first that is. Marco, with his head hurting less now, joined Tarma in their investigation to find any more clues about their wayward stranger and if he’s the owner of the ruined building. They came up empty handed and half of the rooms in the ruined building were either caved in or the door’s locks were rusted shut.

They did make their way to the room where Eri found the book they were looking at earlier. It was a small library with the now damp and molding rugs under their feet, chairs, and tables from long ago that are now chopped up into kindling by Tarma to start the fire up to cook their food and keep warm for the night. Standing in the farthest of the room was a desk with small steps leading up to it and a bookshelf behind it.

Marco shone his flashlight on it and checked the drawers. The papers he found were beyond readable, a mouse nest made of shredded cloth and papers, and half broken pots and statues that don’t belong to any cultures or centuries that he can think of off the top of his head. He closed the drawers up and checked the bookshelves. More books like the one they looked at with some of them long gone to save and some that fell apart in their hands. What Marco and Tarma could find, they took with them and it wasn’t a lot. Only three books were spared.

They spent the rest of the night taking turns on guard duty as the rest sleep and Tarma offered to take a double shift on Marco’s behalf. Marco at first talked Tarma out of it but it ended up being Fio who talked Marco out of it and changed his bandages again. “First thing in the morning, we’re contacting Head Quarters to fly us out of here and getting medical help for our friend here.” said Marco, checking their radios for any signs of waterlogging or damages. Only one radio has shown some functionality and Marco turned it off, for now, to prevent any stress on it and bid everyone a good night before going to sleep.

The next morning, Tarma covered up their campfire to rid of any shreds of evidence for the Rebels to find in case they did stumbled upon this ruined building and Marco got dressed and pocketed his soiled bandanna for now. It was a cool sunny morning and the river was yet overflowing from yesterday’s flooding. Eri stepped outside and contacted Head Quarters and got a clear signal and requested a copter pick up right away. By the time they got ready to leave and Tarma and Marco help carry the man who hasn’t woken up and yet breathing. The Copter spotted them and landed close enough for medics to come out and collect their patients and for the squads to board onto the copter and go.

“So, what’s the next plan, Major?” Tarma asked Marco while stretching his arms out and yawning. Tarma is in need of sleep and he’s ready to fall asleep right now as they speak. Marco didn’t reply right away due to a medic working on the gash on his head and his eye twitching for feeling the stitches going in and out. He can finally talk when the medic snipped the stitches’ string, “For now, all we can do is wait for our stranger to wake up and start talking about who he is and why did he got stabbed,” said Marco “And to find out what General Morden been up to while we were gone.”

Back at Head Quarters, The Squad disbanded for now and went their separate ways until they are needed again out on the battlefield. The Doctors told Marco that the man is in good care now and they’ll report to him about his health and when he wakes up. Marco nodded and thank them for their help and headed off to his computer lab, for now, to look over at the books, Fio has already left to do some house cleaning in her room, Eri was getting a medical check up for her injured wrist, and Tarma was heading to his garage to see if he can work on his motorcycle or read some of his motorcycle magazines he’s behind on.

Walking down the corridors to his garage, an echoing sound of a child’s laughter froze Tarma in his spot and he glanced around hurriedly. “Hello? Is somebody there? You’re not supposed to be here, kid. It’s dangerous here.” he called out. But there was no reply and Tarma shrug it off as lack of sleep messing with him and thought about taking a nap instead. He continues on his way and stopped again when the echoing of a child’s laughter was louder. “I’m serious here, kiddo! You’re not allowed to play here.” he shouted and there was no reply again.

This was frustrating Tarma and he picked up the pace and followed the child’s laughter and making sharp turns around corners. He headed straight toward a small storage room and grabbed the door frame as if he was preparing himself to grab them if they tried to make a run for it. But there was no child in the room and Tarma let his arms go limp for he found something else in the room. In the room will a few crates and discarded Slug Tank parts, what looked like a floating crack in the center of the room.

Tarma crept near it to get a better look. He can feel a gentle breeze blowing from it and the warmth of the sun rays on a summer season. He thought about contacting Marco and the others to come right away but he doesn’t know how quick they would be to come to see this strange rift he found or if he’ll be leading them all to a Rebel trap. Tarma placed his hand on his gun and extended his free hand toward the rift. One touch of a hand and a blinding light swallowed up Tarma and the room.

It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining, a sweet summer breeze blew, and a little stream flowed down from the hill. At the bottom of the hill is a small two story house with a tiny garage and car parked out front. Tarma opened his eyes after the light dimmed down and his jaw dropped in shock. That house, the grassy hill and tiny pond that the spring water flows into from the hill is all familiar to Tarma. “This can’t be right. Am I truly back here at his home?” His mind is overwhelmed with thoughts and his heart is racing and trying to take this all in at once.

He heard a child laughing and rushing of tiny feet. He didn’t need to take a second guess on who’s childish laughter that belongs to and he turned around. Six-year-old Tarma was running as fast as his little feet could carry him with a toy motorcycle in hand as if he was making that small vehicle fly. He thought that his younger self was going to crash into him but to his startling surprise, the child ran right through him as if he was a ghost and headed toward the house below. He stopped to greet a white cat with orange and black blotches on its body.

“Patches? She passed away of old age. What is going here? How am I seeing all of this?” Young Tarma called out for his grandfather and Tarma’s eyes widen and wondered if he dares to turn around. He can feel his heart in his throat and the waves of feeling taking over him. He took a deep breath and turned around.

Tarma Roving the First was a man in his mid-seventies. His hair and beard are all white as snow and he wore sandals and a pair of brown shorts. He wore a pine green shirt with a light blue button up shirt over it. Tamra always remembers him as a kind man with a friendly smile and always made play time all so magical to him as a kid. Tears swelled up in his eyes and watch his late grandfather walked through him like his younger self done. Without thinking, Tarma ran after him, arm extended in hopes of stopping and interacting with him.

Thump!

Tarma rubbed his nose after crashing into a stack of crates in front of him. He is now back inside the small storage room and the rift is gone. His mind is swirling with a lot of questions about what happened and sat down on a crate to massaged the sides on his head. The memory is fresh in his mind and kept replaying it. He can still feel the warm sun on his face and the grass that brushed up against his legs and hearing child Tarma’s laughter. He let out a shaken sigh and wiped away the tears from his eyes after he saw his late grandfather alive and well.

He snapped back into reality when his radio crackled to life and Eri’s voice came through. “Tarma are you sleeping again? Wake up and head to the briefing room right now!” Tarma calms himself down and pushed the memories back in his head and pick up the radio. “Sorry, Eri. I must have overslept. I’m on my way right now.” He got up and walked out of the room but not before taking a last glance inside it where the rift was in and a new found desire to relive that memory again.


	5. Chapter 5

Tarma made it to the briefing room just in time to find his spot next to Eri. “For a second there, I thought I was going to have to take notes for you.” Eri whispered to him. Tarma smirked, “Funny, I like it when you play secretary for me.” Tarma joked back that resulted in Eri rolling her eyes at him. Marco came to the room with Nadia talking about the reports, looking at them, he asked Trevor if he got the recorded footage for everyone see on the screen. “All up and ready, sir.” said Trevor without looking up from his laptop.

“Thank you, Trevor. Listen up, everyone. Sparrows’ spy, Nadia Cassel has come back with some incriminating evidence that General Morden and the Rebels have gotten their hands on a secret weapon from an unknown source that we’re still looking into right now as we speak.” He laid down the notes and pictures on the table for the others and see and Tarma picked up one of the photographs. “Whatever it is, Major. It doesn’t really like to be photographed by anyone.” Tarma said while taking his sunglasses off to see it’ll help him get a better look.

“It doesn’t like being recorded either.” said Nadia, unwrapping a piece of gum and popped it into her mouth. Trevor brought the video up and pressed play on the laptop. Everyone turned their attention toward a large screen monitor on the wall and it turned to static and the video feed comes in, showing the footage of their base out in Coalwood looking normal at first until a ball of fire came out of the sky and demolished a cargo truck, scattering soldiers, and workers everywhere. A spine-chilling fierce roar came out of nowhere and a pair of long sharp metallic talons came swooping in, grabbing a tank like a helpless mouse to a hawk and flying off with it.

Everyone gasped when the tank was thrown with such a huge impact that it destroyed a whole building with one swift blow and the blurry shadow flew across the sky and breathed more fire at the remaining buildings. It flew lower to the paved road at break neck speed and the camera breaks and cut to static. Marco asked Trevor to rewind the video a bit to see if the camera caught anything and sure enough, they got a clear look at a face of a mechanical dragon, mouth open and a fire forming inside it. It got two tubing running inside its mouth from each side of its jaws, glowing yellow eyes, and roles of sharps teeth, sharpen and polished for fighting and creating mass of destruction.

“So we’re going to be fighting a robotic dragon. Too bad we don’t have any Slug knights.” said Tarma, folding his arms. Eri stepped forward to get a look at the dragon’s mouth and studied it. Marco looked over the papers quickly before deciding to end the briefing, “They call it The Dusk Eater and it got the name due to it attacking bases the minute the sun goes down and so far, this beast has taken out four of our bases and this one. A total of five altogether,” He tossed the papers back on the table. “All right, let’s move out!”

Coalwood was once a bustling coal mining industry town in the old days when coal was in high demand but as the years came and gone, Coalwood slowly became a dying town when new energy was introduced and when the war started, what’s left of the civilians of this once thriving town has long ago fled and later got turned into one of the Regular Military bases. The Helicopter flew over the ghost town, over the trees and hills to its destination. Marco can see the clouds gathering and hopes that they won’t have to fight in another violent storm like they did back at the Rebel’s dam.

“We’re about to reach our destination at any minute.” The pilot called out to them and they nodded to get ready. As The Squad was getting ready to land, a vast of a shadow glided over the helicopter and made a sharp turn to smack the helicopter out of balance. Everyone inside felt the helicopter tilt far enough that their bodies slammed against the opposite side. “What was that?” Fio frantically looked around. “Someone hit us! Is everyone all right back there?” the pilot called back to them. “We’re okay. Just keep flying the-” Tarma didn’t get to finish when they hear metal tearing, a familiar vicious roar they heeded earlier during the briefing and they saw pieces of the helicopter falling by their window. “Everyone out right now! We lost our propeller and losing control!” He activated the hatch and all of them jumped out when The Dusk Eater came back to finish off the helicopter.

One by one, they landed safely landed and took cover when The Dusk Eater landed hard enough to shatter the ground under its feet. It sniffed the air for its prey with a stream of smoke coming out of its mouth. They got a good look at the towering mechanical beast before them.

It got long horns with spikes all over it, whiskers coming out of its snout with two bony nubs at the end of its mouth. Its tail is long and thick enough to crush cars like a paper cup. Standing on it hind legs, they can see his sharpen long claws and his hide, cover with bullet holes, few dents, and scratches were made on one of the best metal that anyone could get their hands on. Its wings are folded up but judging by their size, Marco guesses that they can be big enough to create a huge gust storm in seconds.

The Dusk Eater adjusted its camera eyes with shutters and took nimble steps to seek and destroy his prey. They laid low to see where the dragon would be heading before they could make their moves. “Marco, Tarma is missing.” said Fio with a worry expression on her face and looked around for him. Marco’s eyes widen at the thought of his friend being out there while The Dusk Eater is patrolling to kill them. “We have to act fast to find him before that thing does.” Marco signaled the girls to followed him as they quietly crept through the bushes and among the wreckage.

“Well isn’t this great.” Tarma said sarcastically, fighting with his parachute all tangled up in the branches above him. He groped around for his knife and found it and unfasten the clasp and withdrew it from its sheath. Tarma was too busy cutting himself free to be aware of The Dusk Eater coming up from behind him. Cutting each cord, he was closer freeing himself. “Tarma look out!” Tarma turned around and The Dusk Eater snagged him right out of the tree and held him up close to his face.

He couldn’t reach for his gun and he dropped his knife when he got ambushed. The Dusk Eater stood still and took a big dragging whiff of Tarma’s scent. “Yuck. Ever heard of a breath mint?” Tarma snapped at the dragon while waving away the smell with his hand. The Dusk Eater’s shutters in his eyes adjusted and a beam shot out to scan Tarma from top to bottom and it went all quiet. Marco, Fio, and Eri steady their guns, ready to strike at any minute. The Dusk Eater then let out an aggressive tempered roar and threw Tarma to the ground and swung his tail at him.

Tarma rolled out of the way and grabbed his knife once he stood up. The Dusk Eater was about to shoot a fireball at Tarma but got hit with a bullet to turn its attention onto Marco and The Squad. All three of them shooting at once to lure the Dragon away from their friend. Tarma didn’t waste any time and joined them in the shooting. The bullets from their handguns didn’t slow it down and they resorted to throwing grenades at its feet. It took off into the air and flapped its powerful wings to create a huge gust storm.

They shield themselves from the gust storm and Fio held on to her hat to prevent it from being blown away. The Dusk Eater then circled above them and breathed out a long stream of inferno. They ran for cover and found a box of supplies that got left behind and they pop it open to grab weapons out of it. Marco shot enemy chasers, Eri launched heavy grenades to its chest, Fio wielded a heavy Machine gun, and Tarma obtaining a rocket launcher. The weapons did help slow the dragon down but it was refusing to give up on the desire to destroy them.

“I got an idea on how to destroy it,” Eri shouted among the shooting. “Those tubes that are connected inside its mouth are used to pump propane or gas to help make it breathe fire. All we need is a big enough explosive to it.” “Get going on it, Eri.” said Fio. Her gun ran out of ammunition and Fio salvage around for another gun. Eri nodded and took off running, there’s got to be some explosives around here for her to use, it’s a military base for crying out loud. She broke the lock off a door and kicked it open. Bingo! The small warehouse was full of them.

Marco and Tarma ran out ammo and resort to shooting with their handguns. All three of them moved out of the way before The Dusk Eater’s fist destroyed what was left of their barrier. It got them cornered, nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. It was time to move in for the kill. It opens its mouth, warming up the fire. “Here! Catch!” It turned its attention toward Eri who threw a large bushel of bombs, grenades, dynamites, and powder explosives down its mouth. It blew up, causing the mechanical monstrosity to stumble in pain and letting out defeated cry.

It crashed into a few buildings, stumbled over the helicopter wreckage and took flight into the air, swaying from side to side, leaving behind a trail of smoke and sparks in its wake. They watched until it became nothing but a speck in the sky and in unison they cheered for a job well done and surviving the battle. But the sweet victory was short. Rain began to pour down on them and grew rapidly worse like it did on their previous mission. “We better take cover but hey, at least got no rivers to worry about.”  
“Or Allen O'Neil to hit you.” Tarma added.


	6. Chapter 6

They were lucky to find at least one building intact from The Dusk Eater’s carnage or let alone still have a roof not ripped to shred. The rain came down in buckets, drumming rapidly on the roof and the on the windows and filling the air with the rumbling of thunder. Tarma leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed, watching the rain fall and taking a puff of smoke from his cigarette and Eri sat in the window sill with one leg dangling out as she watched the downpour too.

Marco sat on the floor with Fio, the young lady was already unpacking her lunch box and taking out her sandwiches and tea. She offered some to Marco. He only declined the sandwich but accepted the tea and he had to admit, Fio makes the best tea around and it helps his nerves and calms his mind when he’s been doing a lot fighting and deep thinking. He took small sips of the tea, he can hint a flavor of lemon and strawberries on his taste bud and thanked Fio for a cup.

He stretches his arms out and got off the floor, “I’m going to take a look around and see if we can salvage what didn’t get destroyed.” Tarma nodded and kept looking outside. “Be careful, Marco and stay safe.” said Fio. Marco smiled, “Don’t worry, Fio. I’m fine for as long as I have you three and being high alert too.” Marco walked away and turned around a corner. His feet echoed in the long empty corridors, he saw signs of military workers and soldiers who were once here due to the papers and bullets casings scattered all over the floors and doors were left open during the panic.

Furniture was tipped over and used as protection from The Dusk Eater’s wrath and boy that wrath left scorch marks and claws scratches on the walls or crumbling them down to leave some rooms exposed to the outside world. So far, Marco didn’t find anything that is worth taking back to Head Quarters and most of the computers he found were beyond saving due to being crushed, melted, or being overly waterlogged by the gusting wind blowing the rain in.

He decided to head back to the Squad when from the corner of his eye, he could have sworn that he saw a sudden flash of light from one of the rooms and goes to investigate. Marco peaked in, gun ready for any ambush inside the room and found nothing but a rift in the middle of the room. Raising a brow, Marco put his gun away and walked towards it, close enough to look yet far enough to have a safe distance from the strange phenomenon before him. He can auscultate beeping of computers, humming of hard drives running, and someone pacing about in a room.

Does he dare to look closely or leave it alone in case if it wants to do harm to him? He pondered over this question but it didn’t take long when he felt a pair of hands shoving him toward it and a bright light engulfed him once the rift torn widely open. Marco fell to the ground and groaned when slowly getting up. He shook his head and became awestruck to see where he is now. “Wait, did that rift took me back to my Computer lab?”

Ever since the war started, the military approved of him to have his own computer laboratory and it was rightly connected next door to his bedroom. Fio was always making a joke about how surprised she is that he managed to keep his room clean but his laboratory a mess. Marco always replies in a joking manner about that’s how geniuses get their work done and think better.

She is right about the mess of the laboratory. Tables lined up against the walls with laptops and computers all set up and wires strung everywhere and some of them were taped down to prevent tripping from happening. On the opposite side of the room was his work desk where he would take apart computers and guns to fix and clean them or to cannibalize older computers to make new ones. Stacks of books and binders on computers repairs, programming, and all of the codes he wrote in the past overcrowded his bookshelves.

He walked toward the door exiting out of his computer laboratory and he was shocked to see his hand go right through the door knob. “Strange. How do I leave this room?” He asked himself as he surveys his computer laboratory.

Marco heard a familiar snore and turned his attention to the floor. It was Tarma, fast asleep with his paper reports disorganized. He did recall Tarma being here to help him with the Slug Tank’s repair while he worked on the computer programming for it. Knowing his best friend well, Tarma can sleep anywhere and one time when they were out in the mountains, he used a rock as a pillow and from that day on, he kept the rock he slept on.

Marco got it now. The Rift teleported him to the past but why here in his computer laboratory? At least it wasn’t the day when he made a computer virus for fun and almost launched all the nuclear missiles. A door opened and his past self stepped out of his bedroom. He wasn’t wearing his red vest cause as Marco remembered it he took it off due to the late night being hot. He looked down at his tablet that he would normally take with him to keep working while being away from his computer and he walked right through his present self and Marco sighed. “Now I know what it’s like to be Alice.” he muttered.

Past Marco looked at his computer screen and saw the word success blaring on the monitor and hunched over the keyboard and glide his fingers across the keys, striking every key he put into the computer and he pressed enter. “There, an up to date security system that not even Morden’s best hackers can get into.” Marco put his hands on his hips with pride. Present Marco strolled to his computer and looked at the codes he imputed and his eyes widen with shock and stepped away from it.

“I know these codes,” he whispers to himself “I didn’t create the perfect security codes I created-” The sun was rising over the mountains and stream of light filtered through the room and Past Marco stepped away from the Slug Tank with a bewildered expression on his face. Present Marco was silence and stared at the artificial intelligence before them. She opened her eyes and had the sweetest smile and did a curtsy bow to him. Marco mouthed along the first words Alice said to him.

“Nice to meet you! We are able to meet, Master.” said Alice and extended her little hand. Past Marco was still flabbergasted for what he was seeing right before him. He tried to find the right words to say but all he could do is try to touch her hand but to their dismay, his hand went right through hers. Present Marco’s curiosity sparked inside him. Remembering the time when Professor, an alien clone of his former self, kidnapped them and probed their minds for any memories they could find and how he was able to touch the hologram as if she was made of flesh and blood.

He stepped toward the tank with his hand reaching out. He’s certain that his past self won’t mind having him walk through him and touched Alice’s hand. Disappointingly, it was the same as last time and his hand went through hers and looked down and sighed. He perked up as he witnesses the view around him shattering like glass and swirl and zoom around the dark void. He shields his eyes when they came twirling around him fast and landed all back in their places, taking Marco to another place and it made his heart sank to his stomach.

Past Marco is in a one-on-one fight against General Morden and his new Morden Saucer. The battle was fierce between them with strong determination in both men to finish each other off and win this war. Morden wasn’t going to give up but Marco got the upper hand and defeated the tyrant and his Morden Saucer. “You’re finished, Morden. You’re never going to win this war and you’re going have to give up.” Morden in agonizing defeat expression changed from shock to a twisted smirk.

“That’s what you think, Major Rossi. I’m not going to give in all because of a measly Regular Solider puppet told me I should.” He manically laughed and slam his fist on a self-destruct button for his Morden Saucer. It beeped rapidly and Morden grabbed the rope ladder from the Helicopter and took flight. Morden Saucer sprung to life for the last time and charged toward Past Marco at blinding speed.

It felt like his whole world came to a slow crawl and silence except for Marco repeatably saying no and begging Alice to stop with tears overflowing from his eyes after she speeds by them and collided with the Morden Saucer. He burst out screaming Alice’s name.

Reality came crashing down all around Marco and he hit his back against the wall and gasping for air. He clutched his chest, feeling his heart racing, chest hurting and slid down the wall from the weakening in his legs. Sweat dripped down his face and sound of footsteps put him on edge but his hands feel so horribly numb to do anything to fight back if it was an intruder and feeling like a sitting duck. A Panic Attack he thought to himself. When the last time did he have one of these and his mind is too much in a scramble to give him the answer.

“Marco!” Fio gasped and ran to his side to help him out. “It’s okay, Marco. I’m right here to help you out. Are you having a Panic Attack?” Marco gave her a short nod. “Do you need your medication?” She asked him and he nodded again. She opened up her bag and grab her first aid kit and fished around for his bottle of pills and pulled them out. She read the label and gave him the correct amount of pills and hand them to him.

He took the pills and swallowed them and Fio offers her water canteen and helps him steady his hands to wash the pills down. “You’re doing a good job, Marco. You can do it.” Fio praised him from all the learning she read up on Panic Attacks. She made sure that the door is shut and the windows were locked to prevent random encounters from happening and quiet down the room as much as she can while staying in Marco’s sight. She sat back down with him and asked him to keep lifting his arms above his head till it became a tiring matter and doing breathing exercise with her. She kept praising him and assuring him that there is no danger in this room.

Finally, Marco can breath again and his heart is back at a regular beating paced. His chest doesn’t hurt and the numbness in his arms and hands went away and Fio hugged him, feeling glad to see him better. Marco gently hugged her back and wiped the sweat away from his brow. “I-I’m sorry to scare you like that, Fio.” said Marco, taking deep breaths to steady his nerves and wiping away any tears he shed. “But thank you for helping me out during my time of need.” Fio smiled, “Anything to help you out. We got worried when you didn’t come back and we heard you yelling.”

Marco was about to tell Fio why he screamed and there was a loud banging at the door. “Major, are you in there? It’s Tarma!” Fio forgot about the door she hurried to the door and unlocked it for Eri and Tarma to come in. “Thank goodness Fio found you. Are you all right, Major?” Marco took care to steady his legs and grabbed hold of a tipped over desk to help lift him back on his feet. “I had a Panic Attack but Fio helped me through it.” Marco replied. “Geez, I can’t recall the last time you had one,” said Tarma. “but why were you screaming out Alice’s name.”

Marco told them the truth, the experience with The Time Rift and what it showed him. Fio and Eri was awe about this and Tarma was deep in thoughts about this and spoke up,”Major, you’re not alone on this and I found one like the one you told us back at Head Quarters in a small storage room when I thought I heard a child laughing and running around,” he quietly looked away, “It took me to one of my fondest memories of my grandfather and it shook me to the core seeing him again, alive and well. I don’t know what to say or think afterward but it filled me with a desire of wanting to see him again.”

“Oh, Tarma,” said Eri, with sympathy in her voice and placing a hand on his shoulder“I didn’t know you missed your grandfather so much. Even after he passed on.” Tarma smiled at them, “It’s all right, everyone. He passed away peacefully with me and the whole family by his side. But I wonder if we’re going to be seeing more of them and what memories they would contain in them.”

They were interrupted when Marco’s radio crackled to life and calling for them. “Major Rossi, can you hear us? We need you and everyone back at Head Quarters right away. The young man you brought in woke up.”


	7. Chapter 7

Out of a fit of rage, General Morden smashed his glass of Old Parr onto the floor, then another glass, and another. If that wasn’t enough he even grabbed Allen O'Neil’s glass of beer that he thankfully finished before his enraging boss grabbed it out of his hand and shattered it. Horatio calmly sat at his desk and sipped his wine and pressed the intercom button on his desk and requested his secretary to bring up the janitor and fill in an order for more scotch glasses and a new rug. General Morden’s fists were clenched; he’s breathing heavily and turned to stare at Horatio, nostril flaring and pupil dilated. Horatio grabbed his wine bottle and glass to keep them out of reach and tucked them inside his desk drawer. “Got it all out of your system, General?” he smoothly asked him.

“Out of my system? That’s all you have to say when Major Rossi and the PF Squad made a mockery out me again? That hunk of junk you called the perfect weapon was blown to scrap metal and was lucky to even flown back in one place.” He slams his hands on Horatio’s desk, disturbing his papers and making pens roll off his desk. He leaned in enough to invade the man’s person space. Horatio can smell the scent of Scotch on his breath, “And you’re asking me if I got it all out of my system? You should be thankful that I didn’t throw you out the window!” He pointed right at it.

Horatio got out of his chair and walked around it. He fixed up his tie and took great care to tug on his coat to remove any folds on it and rid of any wrinkles. “My apologies about this Rossi character and his friends making a fool out of you in front of your army and your High Commanding Officers,” he said, “We will make sure that The Dusk Eater will be up and running again to terrorize any bases, villages, and cities as you please.” He gave General Morden an assuring pat on the shoulder, “Now then, it won’t hurt to keep being optimistic after all of this, General.”

General Morden suddenly went from being infuriating to smiling and being cheerful and this made Allen O'Neil suspicious. His boss was never the kind to go from mad to feeling happy in seconds. Everyone at the base would avoid him like the plague when he’s in one of his foul moods. Even if they brought him his favorite drink and food. “You’re right, Horatio,” he chuckled and gave Horatio a friendly slap on the shoulder. “I’ll give The Dusk Eater a second chance. Now then, I must not waste any time. I got a war to win and Major Rossi to kill once and for all.” He boomed with laughter and headed toward the office door.

Allen O'Neil was scratching his head and looked over his shoulder at Horatio, who is smiling and waving them a friendly goodbye. The Second in Command then turned for the door and leaves. Allen O'Neil jr meanwhile was leaning against a desk, trying to flirt with the secretary who’s been giving him the cold shoulders and kept working at her computer.

He quickly turned his attention to the door and saluted to General Morden who strolled by with a smile on his face and it threw Allen O'Neil jr off. “What’s with the General, dad?” he asked his father, “I don’t know but we better keep a close eye on him. I got a feeling that Old man did something to him.”

Horatio’s grin faded away and his serious expression was back again. He looked at his right hand and see the Runkayle symbol faintly glowing on his hand and he lightly closed it. He opened it again to see the symbol faded into nothingness and looked out the window. It has been ages since he used his magic on a human and he only uses it as a last resort option. He stepped out of his office at a fast paced, passed the Janitor and stepped into the elevator with his grandson, Jonas who was coming to see him.

“Any reports?” he asked him, tracing his finger under the column of floor buttons to reveal a hidden one and presses it. “The reading for Time and Space spiked again. The data we got off of The Dusk Eater said a man name of Tarma or Tarmicle Roving the Third had interaction with one of The Time Rifts. It threw The Dusk Eater off on the hunt for The Missing Source.” said Jonas. Horatio nodded, “I see. I want to hear your reports now on your mission to Coalwood.” The young man was hesitant and cleared his throat. “We did get The Dusk Eater back in one shape and I went back to their base to find any parts left behind but I encountered their leader, Marchrius Dennis Rossi, who was in a room all by himself with a Time Rift,” Horatio looked at him from the corner of his eyes, wanting his grandson to keep going, he can see the young man is nervous and tried to cover it up.

“The other way was blocked off with fallen walls and strung around furniture and I didn’t want to get spotted, so I sneaked up behind and shoved him into The Time Rift. But who cares, he’s nothing but a worthless human and all of those vermin should have been all wiped out and let us take-” Horatio punched the elevator wall without even turning and left a deep dent into it. He snapped his irritable gaze toward his grandson and took big steps and downcast over Jonas. Jonas was cornered and acted like he was trying to shrink away from his terrorizing glare.

“Jonas Koza Kronos!” he huffed, “Mankind is the reason we exist. We are the keeper of Time and Space and we obey the universe’s laws, we are The Weavers of man’s future to make sure that everything falls into the right place to make a better future, to learn and grow from man’s mistake to help the survival of our race and don’t forget, when mankind neglect the past, we are to remind them the nasty outcome of the future. You got it, young buck?”

Jonas was whimpering out of fright and nodded his head, “I’m sorry, grandfather. I’m so tired of living my life as a human and feeling so out of place in this world.” Horatio sighed and stepped away from him to give him room to get up and stuck his hand out to help his grandson up from the floor. “It’s okay, Jonas. I’m tired of living life as a human too but the world has changed and mankind has forgotten that we exist. We have to keep up this illusion.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened up to a long sterile hallway and they stepped out. “Since we’re away from the prying eyes of humans for now. We can let go of our human selves till we head back to the main building. After we check up on the repair of The Dusk Eater, I have an important assignment for you.” Jonas smiled at him, “Thank, grandfather.” Horatio punched in the code in door’s keypad and the light switched from red to green and opened it. They stepped through and transformed to their true form.

After the rainfall, Marco felt better and The Squad called Head Quarters for a lift back and they got a report that their pilot survived The Dusk Eater’s wrath but got separated from them. The helicopter came and picked them all up and flew them back to Head Quarters. “I don’t know about you three but I’m going to take a nice warm shower after that battle.” said Eri, stretching her arms out as they step out of the helicopter. “Even though I’m not fond of hot baths but having one right now sounds good to me with the cold rain and the fighting we been doing.” said Fio, remembering her hat getting damp from the blowing rain from earlier when she was shutting windows up to help Marco’s panic attack.

“I’ll take one later after I see that young man we brought in and ask him a few questions I got for him.” said Marco, “I’m coming with you. I’m curious to see what he has to say myself.” said Tarma, following the Major behind him. They didn’t get far when Trevor Spacey ran up to them urgently and saluting to both Marco and Tarma. “Major Rossi, sir. I’m glad you came back cause we got a problem.” Marco’s eyes widen a bit, “A problem? What happened while we were gone, Trevor? Did the Rebel tried to strike HQ while we were gone?”

“No, sir. The young man you brought in vanished after he woke up. One of the nurses found his bed empty and called security. Lucky for us, I was there to get a cut treated and I followed him to make sure he wasn’t planning to escape from us. We got him locked up and secure.” said Trevor. “That’s great, Trevor. We’ll go to the cells and talk to him.” Trevor tapped his fingers nervously. “Actually, Captain Roving, he’s locked up in Major Rossi’s computer lab. He found his way in there for some reason and Alice and Walter are watching him closely.” Marco face palmed but he understood why Trevor did it; to keep him from running away. “Let go to the computer lab, Tarma.”

Walter saluted to Marco and Tarma and stepped away for them to enter Marco’s Computer lab. Marco entered the code and the door clicked opened. He pushed it opened and Alice appeared before him, “Master, welcome back,” she said in her warm welcoming voice “I heard that the mission went well but are you feeling well enough to be walking about?” She voiced sound concerned for her creator’s health. Marco gave her a friendly smile and waved his hand, “Hello, Alice. Don’t worry about me. Fio helped me through the panic attack and I’m feeling a lot better. Thank you for being concern for me.”

Alice was happy to hear the good news of her master’s health and recalled the young man. “Oh, Master. If you are looking for him, he went into your room. He didn’t touch any of the computers or your workstations. Not even the Slug Tank thank goodness.” According to Marco, when Alice was born and even up to this day. She’s very shy around people, even going as far as hiding behind Marco’s back when people come into his lab or just approaching them. Over time, she only grew use to his friends.

Marco thanked Alice and signals Tarma and Trevor to follow him. He quietly pushed opened his bedroom door and stepped him. Slowly creeping up toward The Young Man and ushered Tarma in silence to come close and ordered Trevor to block the door. The Young Man was looking over the books that Marco brought back from the ruined building and Tarma smirked. “Too easy. We got him cornered.” he thought to himself and approached the man.

Tarma learned the hard way not to get cocky. Next thing Marco and Trevor knew, they witnessed him getting tasered by The Young Man. Tarma feels the powerful jolt coursing through his body and hit the ground smoldering and groaning. The man turned his attention toward Marco, standing his ground, “Get back or you’ll be joining him.” he shouted, turning the taser on to show he means it. Marco recognized the taser belonging to Nadia who brought it to him to get it repaired after it stopped working. He wondered how the man got going all new again.

“Okay, we’re not here to hurt you. We both got some questions to exchange for each other and the possibility to get Tarma check for any degree burns. Tarma is still laying on the ground, groaning. He can see that he wasn’t convinced and still stood his ground. Marco made it easy for them, he told the man that he is going to put his weapons down to show that he’s not going to hurt him. First, he takes his gun out of its holster and empty out the clips and the one loaded bullet and set it on the table. The Young Man raises a brow and kept his eyes on Marco. Then Marco removed his knife from its sheath and set it on the floor and kicked it away.

The Young Man relaxed and straighten himself up. The taser in his hand stopped buzzing and he put it on Marco’s desk to show that he too is unarmed, “I’m sorry for tasering your friend. I don’t know where I am or why I am here.” he spoke with concern in his voice. “It’s all right. Tarma went through worst than a taser to the chest,” said Marco, assuring The Young Man, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Major Marchrius Dennis Rossi. Leader of the PF Squad but everyone calls me Marco for short.” He extended his hand for a friendly handshake that The Young Man accepted. “And you are?”

“My name Kartu. Kartu Oguma.”


	8. Chapter 8

The news about Kartu Oguma spread like wildfire or as Trevor would put it, it spread like a computer virus all over Head Quarters and the news isn’t settling well with everyone and they have a good reason why to feel this uneasy. A long time ago, a man named of Sermeg Oguma and his race, the Tuaha de Dunan were going to destroy their world once they gathered the planet’s data to create the perfect ideal history. That is until Marco and his Squad intervene and defeated their tower giant, Lugas and then fought and destroyed their previous giant, Luu, after it absorbed Lugas into its body and erasing all of Oguma’s race’s culture.

After the destruction of both Luu and Lugas, Oguma quietly disappeared, leaving the data disc of his people’s history behind in the hands of Rumi Aikawa who turned it in to The PF Squad to keep securely safe. Tarma paced back and forth frantically, trying to understand all of this and no matter how many times he opened his mouth, he would close it again and pace again restlessly. “Oguma? We haven’t heard that name in years. Are you sure he isn’t pulling our leg and keeping his real name to himself?” Said Tarma, running his hand through his hair.

Marco leaned against a table with his arms crossed and eyes closed while deep into his thoughts. “We won’t be sure until Eri comes back with what data she gathered and Kartu’s belongings they found on him.” Earlier when they brought Kartu back to Head Quarters, they only found cuffs on his hands and removed them for safety reasons and put them in a safe to prevent any theft while Kartu was passed out. Tarma flopped himself down on a nearby couch in the break room. It was quite small for a break room but it got basic needs. Microwave, fridge, coffee maker, and some tables and chairs.

Kartu sat quietly, feeling like an awkward child in a misplaced classroom and wondering what are they planning to do with him. He himself has no idea what’s going on or why he is here. The Doctors discharged him and he was put right into The PF Squad’s custody. To him so far, they been kind to him and the nice lady they called Fio offered him some tea for his nerves and asked if he was hungry which he replied yes to her question. Fio is now working away in the kitchen to cook him up a nice meal and aroma of cooked food is making his stomach growl for food.

“Kartu, are you up to answering some questions?” Marco asked him while sitting down next to him. “Since you’re not planning to kill me or something. I won’t mind answering some questions.” he said. Marco chuckled and grinned. “We don’t want to make you feel like that you’re in danger, Kartu. They’re just simple questions is all. Now, can you tell me how you fixed this taser?” Marco set the taser on the table and Tarma'a eye twitch and moved over one spot on the couch away from Kartu. “It’s easy. I took it apart with a screwdriver and replaced the corroded wire inside and cleaned it up quick.” He made the taser come to life and they heard a loud thud from the couch. Both the men peeked over the table to see Tarma on the floor, sunglasses all crooked on his face and glared at Kartu for scaring him with it.

“I see. At least you saved me the time fixing it.” He put it away for Tarma’s sake and moved on to the next question. “Can you tell us what were you doing at that ruined building we found you in the woods?” Kartu looked away and thinks it over. “I don’t recall. All I remember is waking up in an old damp bedroom in pain and bleeding from my injury. I struggled to get up without hurting myself some more and limped my way out of there to find some help or any sign of where I was until I found you and your Squad staring at me, guns pointing.”

“We apologize for that since we got out of a rough mission and we were on edge for any Rebel enemies. But can you at least remember who tried to kill you?” Kartu shook his head, “I’m sorry, sir. I’m drawing a blank on who tried to kill me or why I was inside that ruin. I’m as lost as you all are.” Marco thinks for awhile and looked at Kartu again. “All right. I got two more before Fio comes out with your meal. Are you related to Oguma in anyways?” Kartu looked at him and smiled, “Why yes I am and he’s my grandfather. He raised me after my mother died giving birth to me and we never knew what happened to my father.” Kartu answered. “But Oguma never mentioned that he have any relatives living or deceased.” said Tarma, back on the couch again.

“Grandfather likes to keep his personal life private from the world. He said that it’s best not to be too open with everyone.” he took a sip of his tea. “What’s the last question?” Kartu asked Marco. “What were you doing with those books we found back at the ruins?”

Kartu put his cup down and he walked toward the window. He’s enjoying the view of the forested mountain area around Head Quarters and looked at the sun sinking behind the trees and mountains casting the bright colors of orange and pink in the sky. “When I was passed out, I had a vision of those books stacked and locked up in your room, Mr. Rossi. It was like as if someone wanted me to find and read them. Those books you have in your hands are long forgotten histories of past worlds that were destroyed by my race long before yours was created. I have a feeling that someone created that vision for me to see.”

Marco and Tarma were astounded to hear what Kartu said about the books, “Can you read these books?” Said Tarma, “We couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were saying.” Kartu nodded. “Of course I can, Mr. Roving. An old friend of mine taught me how to read that language. I can even write it too.” he smiled. Fio came out of the kitchen with a plate full of delicious food and silverware and set the table for him. “Here you go, Kartu. Boun appetito!” she sweetly smiles at him and refill his cup for him.

Marco and Tarma left Kartu in Fio’s care and let the young man enjoy his meal in peace. “If the reports that Eri is getting for us matches Kartu’s statement. He’ll be telling us the truth along.” said Marco, rubbing his chin. “And if he’s lying to us all along?” Tarma asked him, arms folded. “Then we’ll have to lock him up and dig deeper into his background to find out who he really is.” Marco replied. “Aww, what’s with you boys wanting to lock everyone up?” Eri teased them with a playful smile on her face and holding up the data she gathered for them.

“Eri, what do you got for us?” Marco asked and took the reports from her. “We took a lot of digging through information and having Trevor hack through a lot of firewalls and we got what you are looking for. He is related to Oguma and raised by him after his mother died and his father is nowhere to be found. But our research got confusing when they declared him dead but yet missing at the same time.”

“So he is telling the truth after all. He looks pretty alive and well to us but it still doesn’t explain how he got to the ruined building or who’s trying to kill him.” said Tarma. Eri shrugs. “We looked around to find some clues on who wanted him dead but so far we came up empty handed. The only thing we did find is that Oguma Corp is a rival to a company called Kronos Corp. They would compete over who have the better advance technology in the field. I got to say, when it came to the world of medicine, Kronos Corp crush them to death in it.” Marco placed all the papers back in ordered and handed them off to Tarma if he wanted to look them over.

“Great work, Eri. I’ll look more into Kronos Corp and see what sparked the rivaling between those two. I recall reading about their company back when I was in high school when I was given free time. The founder of the place is a huge history buff I read and he was dedicated to donating money to help out libraries, museums, and public broadcasting stations.” Marco spoke. Tarma’s and Marco’s radios came on and a voice requested them to come to the briefing room to have a meeting with the Ikari Warriors and General Heidern through a live satellite feed. “We better get going. We’ll meet you and Fio in the Briefing room.” said Marco.

General Heidern and the Ikari Warriors shared their information with the PF Squad and Sparrow on an odd event that happened while on a mission out in the Kalahari desert. A sand storm struck them hard and strange reportings of Time Rifts popping up between storms. Tarma and Marco shared their experiences with them and told them that they are aware of the unpredictable storms and Time Rifts. “Hmm I see,” said the General, “But did you happened to find an ancient rusted mechanical dragon buried in the earth. A Drake as this one looked to us?” General Heidern asked them. “No, but I did got grabbed by one they called The Dusk Eater. Eri blew him up pretty good and send it flying.” Tarma answered.

“And I would do it again too if it comes back.” Eri added. “So what are the plans, General?” Fio asked, curious to know what they’re going to do to this newly found machine. “We’re going to bring it to your Head Quarters by train. The Ikari Warriors will be guarding it in case General Morden shows any interest in stealing it and have you download any data it might hold with the best computer experts around.” General Heidern answered her question. Marco smirked, “Sounds like this is a job for Trevor and I. We’ll make sure to search that Drake thoroughly inside and out.”

“Thank you, PF Squad and Sparrow for helping us. General Heidern over and out.” The screen went black and the meeting is dismissed for now. It was dead of night by the time they got out of the Briefing room and everyone is dead tired for the day. Marco greeted everyone a good night and strolled back to his room. He locked the door behind him and he gently gave Alice’s Slug Tank a pat on the side. “Good night, Alice. Sweet dreams.” He wished her the same way with the others and walked into his room.

Fio wasn’t joking about how clean Marco’s room is compared to his lab. When Marco first walk in, there’s a doorway to the bathroom in front of him and he makes a left to come to the bedroom. His room is all neat and organized and not a single dirty laundry on the floor. His bed is well made and tucked away in the corner with a nightstand next to it followed by his desk that he used for personal stuff on his computer. His dresser drawer is on the opposite side of the room away from his bed and on top of the dresser has a bottle of cologne that he barely touched, his comb, a notepad and pen in case a sudden struck of a coding idea comes to him, and his bottle of pills for his Panic Attack.

Framed all over the walls are degrees he earned over the years from the schools he attended and a small shelf that contained sci-fi and fantasy books. Alice prefers the fantasy books over the sci-fi ones as he recalled. His desk is quite large so he can do more work on his hobby and on the left in its place after finding Kartu are the old books from the ruined building. One laying open for him to see. The closet is on the other side of the room and it was the kind that you can slide open and close.

He’s too tired to open them to find his pajamas and he left a trail of himself from the hallway to his bed. First, he dropped his book bag, followed by his red vest and shirt and then he kicked off his boots and socks and last his pants. Leaving himself only in a pair of boxer and flopped himself onto his bed. He groped around to turned off the lamp on his nightstand and drifted off to sleep.

Marco dreamed that he was in the desert and it was in the middle of the twilight hours and he walked through the empty dried wasteland. He found a mound of rocks and scaled them with no trouble. On the top of the flat mound were five animals, looking over the desert. A goat with a raven roosting on its horns, a horse with a rooster on its back, and a black dog standing next to the horse. They heard a low whistle of a train and see it coming down the tracks from afar and the animals moved towards it.

“Why are those animals showing interest to a train?” He planned to slide down the rock pile to follow when he saw a swirling dust storm heading his way. The dust storm twist and turn and it bolted straight up to the sky and spread out to form a fierce gigantic Drake looking down at Marco. Its whole body lit up with lighting inside it and let out a howling roar and struck Marco down.

Something loud and high pitch woke Marco up from his odd dream and he yelled and fell out of bed. He groaned and rubbed his head and looked up at Alice, who’s cupping her hands over her mouth out of shock for what she did to her master. “Master, I didn’t mean to startle you, did I? This is your normal wake up call after all.” she said. It didn’t help the situation anymore with Marco in his boxer, making the poor AI blush and look away. Marco was confused a bit at first seeing her acting like this and he quickly grabs his bed sheet to cover himself up.

“It’s okay, Alice. I’m covered now and thank you for waking me up.” The AI nodded sheepishly and dissolved back into Marco’s PC monitor on his desk and turned the PC off. He stretched his arms out and scratched his side and got ready for another day of fighting and missions. He made his bed and head for the bathroom.

Half way through his shower, someone was pounding on his door and demanding him to answer the door. He turned everything off and did a quick change into fresh clothes and opened the door. It was Tarma and he was looking dead serious at Marco. “We got a problem, Major. The Ikari Warriors’ train got robbed.”


	9. Chapter 9

It was a long trip from Head Quarters to the train station for Marco and Fio. Marco ordered Tarma to stay behind to keep watch over Kartu and Fio asked Eri to dig up more information on Kronos Corp and she obeyed. Marco pulled the Jeep up to the station and found the train covered in bullet holes, deep dents, charred marks, and smoke smoldering from some of the box cars. They both got out and Fio couldn’t keep her eyes off of the damaged train and box cars.

Ralf and Clark were already giving orders to have all supplies and ammunition removed and any fire put out. Fio happily greeted Leona and Clark with an energetic wave and the young woman waved back and greeted Fio. “So what happened here, Colonel?” Marco asked, eyeing the mess on the train and its box cars. “We got ambushed by The Rebels and it looked like they got help too once again.” Said Ralf, who was covered in bruises, cuts, and a swollen eye that’s in need of an ice pack.

“Morden got help again? Do you know who’s helping him?” Marco asked Ralf. Ralf shook his head, “No but they were wearing animal masks over their faces and gave all of us a good beating.” Marco raises a brow. The memory of his dream came flooding into his mind of the animals he saw in his dream and the train they were chasing after. “Ralf, you better tell me the full story about these masked fighters and Morden getting help from them.”

It was after their meeting with the PF Squad when General Heidern gave his orders to the Ikari Warriors to protect the newly found mechanical Drake they transfer from the Kalahari desert. After removing loads after loads of sand to bring the metal beast out of the ground, they transfer it with a flatbed truck and then carefully flew it all the way to where PF Squad’s headquarters could be reached by train. Ralf saluted to the general and promises him a swift and successful job and left the briefing room with Clark, Leona, and Whip.

So far, the trip has been rather quiet except for the rhythm of the train going over the tracks and the tranquil view of the desert. Clark looked out the box car’s window and smiled a bit when he see a Roadrunner chasing after a snake to make into its today’s meal. “You should get yourself a Roadrunner, Ralf. They sure love to eat snakes like spaghetti.” Clark joked and Ralf playfully rolled his eyes at him. “More like a pet for Whip. Have you seen how fast those birds move when they grab one? They swing them around like they’re made of rope. Makes you think if Whip was a Roadrunner in her previous life.”

“Maybe I can train it to bring snakes back to you, Ralf since you’re so fond of them.” Whip retorted back. Ralf shivered at the thought of a dopey looking bird running up to him with a snake, dead or alive, in its beak and offering it to him as food. Whip smirked, it was funny to her to see the man who harasses her with the nickname Whippy squirming at the thought of a bird feeding him a snake.

Leona couldn’t help but smile, watching and listening to two fully grown men and a teenage girl talking about a bird that lives in the desert and eats snakes for dinner. Her smile soon ended and a concern expression began and she got off the crate she was sitting on and look out the window. Seeing a Rebel Motorbike going at a fast pace to keep up.

“Ralf, we’re being chased!” The whole box car shook violently and they grabbed on to something to prevent themselves from falling. A Rebel Soldier shot a missile, leaving a massive hole big enough for the others to climb in and start shooting at them. They took cover and started shooting back at the Rebels.

Clark punched a rebel in the face, instantly knocking the soldier out and more moved in to get a better shot at The Ikari Warriors. Ralf exchanged shots and they hear more of them on the roof of the boxcar and two heavy ones accompanying them. Leona cleared the area with her explosives earrings and they moved out while gunning down any rebels still coming in. Ralf swung the door open and a R-Shobu flew in to gun them down. They were quick to take cover and shot back at the pilot and it was Whip who took down the R-Shobu with a throw of a knife. It loses control and crashes into the desert, bursting into flames. “Nice throw, Whippy.” Ralf smiled at her and they quickly climbed onto the roof of the boxcar.

They thought the heavy footsteps were coming from Allen O'Neil and his son but they were in for a surprise when they saw who was making those heavy footsteps. Standing before them was a huge muscular of a man. He wore a blue jean coat with the sleeves ripped off and he had a tattoo of a wild stallion bucking it’s hind legs into the air, throwing the rider off of it on his arm and he wore a thick chain necklace with a silver horseshoe attached to them. He wore a hand carved and decoratively painted horse mask to conceal his identity and his black hair flowing wildly in the wind. He wore black fingerless gloves and he cracked his knuckles then moved his neck around to crack it too.

“I was about to come down to see if you need any help getting your ass kicked,” He said, with malice grin appearing on his face. “Funny coming from a guy who mask should be a horse’s ass.” Ralf replied and getting into a fighting stance. Climbing from the other side and taking one big leap to land on the box car’s roof is another man but this one was wearing a dog mask and he was Ralf’s size. His brown hair was a butch cut and he got claw and bite scars all over his arms and neck. He wore a spiked dog collar and a black shirt with a picture of the snarling heads of Cerberus breathing out fire.

“Need any help, Bronco?” He said, staring at the Ikari Warriors face-to-face. “Just in time, Hellhound. I’m going to need some help taking these four down.” Hellhound scoffs, “No problem while Poe and Celestial take care of their special cargo before the boss gets here to claim it.” “Over our dead bodies!” Ralf shouted and charged at Bronco. Bronco’s punch was like getting kicked in the face by a horse and Clark tackled the man as if he was a bag of flour. “Leona! Whip! Get to the flatbed while Ralf and I take on these goons!” Clark shouted and dodging Bronco’s punch.

Leona and Whip obeyed Clark and passed the men and climb off the roof of the boxcar while fighting off any Rebels who dares to attack them. It’ll take more than a punch in the eye to stop Ralf Jones from fighting. He was back on his feet again and ready to fight against Hellhound. “Most men Bronco punched would have just given up and run away with their tail between their legs,” Hellhound laughed “But you, huh, I’m going to have so much fun mauling on you.” Ralf grinned at him, “Big words coming from a mongrel.” Hellhound loses his temper and charges at Ralf.

Ralf moved to the side and he kept blocking punches that Hellhound threw at him. He even threw some of his own back at Hellhound. He did punch him in the jaw and Hellhound punched him back in the chest and the men kept blocking and dodging their moves with Hellhound giving Ralf a fiery uppercut that burned his chin. Ralf was not going to give up and land a blowing kick on Hellhound and he hopes that Whip and Leona could read the flat bed on time to stop Celestial and Poe.

Clark, meanwhile, locked hands with Bronco in a struggling shoving match. Both men with sweat dripping down their faces and shirt stained with it. Neither of them wanting to be pushed back by the other and waiting for the other to slip up. “Not bad for a man who works out all day,” Bronco huffs and shakes the sweat off his face, “But are you strong enough to defeat a man with the strength of a herd of wild horses?” Clark smiled, “Yes. Let me show you.” Bronco’s jaw dropped and felt Clark getting a good hold on him and grabbing him in an arm lock. Struggling to free himself, Clark slams him and himself through the roof and into the box car.

Leona threw a Rebel against three of them and they toppled over and fell off the train while Whip reflecting their bullets right back with her weapon. The path is cleared and they made their way to the next box car and swung the door open. Looking around the quiet box car, Leona and Whip crept inside, they made their way to the next door when a blade flew and stuck itself into the wall, nicking Leona’s ear.

Standing behind them with throwing knives ready in hand is an athletic woman, wearing a raven mask and black pants and hooded sweater with a white Celtic knotting of a Raven taking flight. She wore a silver dragon ring with its tail curled around her middle finger and silver feather earrings and chopped up blond hair. “So this is Poe,” said Whip, getting her whip ready to fight. “But where is this Celestial character those two meatheads were talking about?”

Her question is answered when Celestial smashed the window in and swiped at Whip with his talon made gloves, only grazing her arm and a thin man with a Rooster mask slipped through the door. He has a red Mohawk and wore torn blue jean pants and black boots with talons crafted onto them. He has an orange bandanna tied around his neck and wore a leather vest with a patch of a Rooster with its wings spread out and talons slashing in the air. “Funny, I thought we were expecting some roosters to fight, not a couple of hens,” Celestial laughs, “Let’s cut them up, Poe.”

Poe took on Whip, leaving Celestial to fight against Leona in an arm-to-arm combat. Leona dodges and weaved away from Celestial’s slashing talons and kicks and caught his wrist in time to punch him in the face and let out a small cry when she felt the other hand claw at her other arm. Grabbing that one too, she moved in for a headbutt, causing Celestial to stumble and making a move to rapidly land blows after blows on him before he regains his stance to fight back again.

Poe kept throwing knives at Whip but she got the upper hand on her with her whip. Spinning it fast enough to create a barrier to keep the knives from touching and took a quick step to the side when Poe charges at her with a combat knife. Poe plunged the knife in the wall and freed it turn her attention toward Whip. She took her whip and transform it into a blade and the girls clashed against each other with their weapons. Pushing back against each other, locking into a fierce staredown before pushing each other back. Poe came back charging at her and only to make a cut on her uniform before getting kicked in the stomach, knocking some wind out of her.

Back to Ralf and Clark, Bronco was getting up before Clark got him into a headlock but not for long after Bronco smacks the back of his head against Clark’s face to free himself and giving Clark a broken bloody nose. The masked man let out an aggressive cry and slams his foot on the ground so hard that the impact rocked the entire box car, shaking everyone around him, and striking Clark with a massive shock wave. “Has anyone ever told you not to mess with a stallion when it kicks back?” Bronco cracks his knuckles and raises his fist to punch Clark. Clark caught it just in time swung the man over his shoulder and gave him a beating of a lifetime. Bronco’s mask is half shattered but not his spirit.

He landed a powerful right on Clark’s back to make the man fall over. Bronco smirk, getting cocky now and thinking that he got the fight in the bag. He lands another kick but felt Clark’s hands grabbing him by the ankle and with one amazing swing, Clark breaks him right through the Box car’s door and watched the man wildly tumble and roll across the dusty dry ground, laying there as the train rapidly pulled away and all he can see is a fading figure slowly getting up.

Hellhound and Ralf were a mess. Hellhound didn’t care that his mask was dangling by one strap and his face can be seen. All he cared about right now is winning his fight against Ralf and his blood is boiling that he’s not winning. “You have given me one Hell of a dog fight I got to give you that,” he said, spitting the blood out of his mouth. “Now it’s time put this fight to sleep.” Ralf has a nasty black eye and blood coming out of his mouth and he wiped it away and charges at him. In unison, they landed one punch after another on each other fists and Hellhound swoops his leg to knock Ralf over.

He grinned and slammed his elbow right into Ralf’s stomach and returned the favor with his kick. They did feel the box car violently shook from Bronco’s wrath and focused on not losing their balance and went back to fighting. “Time to put you back in the dog house!” Ralf took him by surprise and moved in with his lighting speed punching. Poor Hellhound never had a chance.

He felt like a piece of meat being tenderized by an angry chef and felt every blow. He could no longer stand on his own and Ralf KO him right on the spot with an uppercut and watched him fly into the air and then crash back to earth through the hole that Clark made. Ralf jumped through the hole and found Clark inside, “Let’s go help Leona and Whip.”

“For two hens, I’m impressed by how well you two fight,” said Celestial, he moved in to keep fighting with Leona and his attacks kept getting dodge and know all too well that Leona is getting tired and he lands scratches on her. She is getting tired of this and summons a powerful aura from her hands and feet. “Time to clip this bird’s wings.” she said and with one swift of her hand, Celestial’s gloves became useless and the man stood in horror, watching the talons clinking across the floor, he’s been unarmed and it’s not looking good for him. Leona moves in for the finishing move and made a nasty cut across his chest and kick him hard enough that he flew across the room and hit his back against the wall. Celestial slid down, defeated.

Whip was just wrapping up her fight against Poe and finished with the crack of her whip. They smiled and high five each other and turn their attention toward the door when Ralf and Clark came in, “I see you two don’t be needing our help after all.” said Ralf, seeing Poe and Celestial knocked out. “We stopped them from reaching the cargo just in time.” said Leona and flinched from her pain. “We better get you to a medic right away.” said Ralf, checking Leona’s injuries and Clark checks Whip’s. Poe groaned and grabbed her throwing knife and aims for Leona’s chest. Ralf notices this from the corner of his eye and shoves Leona to protect her.

It happened so fast with Ikari Warriors. They thought at first that they were going to lose Ralf on their mission but they didn’t predict what happened next. A stream of light zoomed by them in a blink of an eye and everything around them came to a stand still. Ralf and the rest can see and hear but their bodies were frozen in place and the throwing knife was an inch away from stabbing Ralf in the heart.

The box car’s door slid open and stepped inside was a young man wearing a goat mask. His hair is a mess even if it was in a ponytail. He wore a hooded cloak and ash gray tunic underneath it and leather boots. He carries a satchel swung on his shoulder and he walked by Ralf and stopped and turn his attention to him and the knife. Ralf couldn’t defend himself and this was the perfect timing for the man to kill him. Instead, he reached out and removed the knife and stored it in his bag. “Poe, my grandfather said no killing anyone.” he scolds her and ordered the Rebels to remove Celestial and Poe to safety.

He opened the door and step to the flatbed and close the door and lock it. Everything was quiet and they can hear the young man ordering the rebels to remove the chains and tarps of the Drake and ordered them to remove the chest plate to insert the heart he has in his satchel. It went quiet again and the whole train began to rumble and shake and they heard a loud thunderous roar and more violent shaking around the train. Booming footsteps faded away and the young man didn’t come back inside. Time sped up for them again and the train is moving at fast speed again. Ralf kicked the door out and the Ikari Warriors to find the flatbed empty of their precious cargo.

“What do we now?” Leona asked Ralf who was taking his anger out on the cut chains on the ground. “First thing first,” Ralf turned to them, “We’re going to do damage control and report this to General Heidern and the PF Squad.”

When the story ended, Marco’s dream was no coincidence to him. It was no doubt in his mind that it was some kind foretelling of the train robbery and even if he was awake early to warn them of it, he’ll look like a fool in front of everyone if they were to ask him where he got this vital information on this plan. “But the young man mentioned his grandfather who’s the master plan behind this robbery. We better dig deeper into Morden’s plan and see who behind the theft and the new weapon they gave him.” said Marco. Ralf nodded, “Meanwhile, the Ikari Warriors and I are getting to get medical help and see what we have to do next.”

Marco and Ralf saluted to each other and departed. Marco tells Fio that it’s time to go even though she was helping Clark and Leona with their injuries. “Don’t worry about us, Fio. We’ll be in good hands.” Clark smiled at her and she waved goodbye to them and ran toward the jeep. The ride was awfully quiet and Fio can see that Marco is deep in his thoughts. She can tell when Marco moves his lips but not open them. “Are you okay, Marco?” Fio asked him with concern in her voice.

Not saying a word, Marco drove the jeep to the side of the road and placed it in park. The Jeep sat idle and Marco turned to Fio, “I don’t know if anyone will believe me or see me as a madman, Fio but….Last night I dreamt about the train robbery.”


	10. Chapter 10

Tarma’s job was all too easy for him to handle except once in awhile he’ll have to shoo away workers, soldiers, and low-ranking officials who want to get a glimpse of the grandson of the mad man who tried to destroy their world for their selfish agenda. Kartu, not even once, tried to escape from Tarma’s watchful eyes, even if he fell asleep in Marco’s computer chair and Tarma finds him to be rather of an odd man who would wake him up from his sleep to remind him politely on what he was supposed to be doing while he worked on translating the books.

Before Marco and Fio left for the train station, Marco gave him a stack of notepads, pencils, and an eraser in case he makes an error during his translation. Kartu has been working on it since he finished having breakfast and barely moved from his spot except to go to the bathroom or stretch his arms and legs out. Tarma couldn’t help but wonder about Kartu. How could someone related to Oguma be this polite and concern for others while their grandfather who in past never showed any pity for the lives he snuffed out like candles dozen of times in the name of their race.

He got up and told Alice to keep an eye on Kartu till he gets back and the AI obeyed and watched Kartu, who doesn’t know that he’s being watched. He was deeply indulged within the book and his pencil glide across the paper as if he done this dozen of time already and flipping the paper over to start a new page. Tarma did come back to the room and he set a plate of warm food and a bottle of water for him to drink since he doesn’t know if Kartu likes beers or sodas. He even gave him some plastic silver wares. This got Kartu’s attention and he looked up.

“You’ve been working so long that I thought you might need a break to eat and re-hydrate.” Tarma smiled a bit at him and twist the cap off of his bottle of beer. “Oh, thank you, sir.” said Kartu and he moved the books and notepads to the side and slid the plate over. The food smelled great to Kartu. On his plate, he has Gyoza, Natto, Ebi Furai, Shogayaki, and Takoyaki. For dessert, if Kartu doesn’t get full first, is Melon bread. Tarma sat down and took a sip from his bottle. “So, Kartu. You don’t mind if I ask you some questions while you eat, do you?” Kartu was already eating the meal Tarma offered him and swallowed.

“Sure, what do you want to ask me, Mr. Roving?” Tarma chuckled and sip his beer, “Just call me Tarma, Mr. Roving was my grandfather’s name.” he said, finding it amusing how well mannered this guy was to everyone around him. “My apologizes, Tarma. What would you like to ask me?” Tarma thinks and then spoke again, “What was it like to have Oguma as your grandfather?” Tarma asked. Kartu finished drinking his water, “I have seen everyone staring at me and whispering about him behind my back since I first got here. My grandfather behind closed door was a gentler man. Well, to me and those around him that is,” He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and looking off to the corner of his eyes.

“But he did take great care me after my mother died and my father never to be found. He loathes my father a lot after he up and disappeared on my mom before I was born. He took great care to teach me not to abandon those you love and care for in your life.” This made a lot of sense to Tarma. He grew up with a father who’s a decorative soldier and he taught him everything he needed to know about honor and loyalty to your friends, family, and your fellow brothers in arms.

His dad did teach him to take orders from the higher ups while at the same time, taught him to keep his morals in check and question missions that involve hurting innocent lives. “You mentioned that Mr. Roving is your grandfather, what was he like?” Kartu asked him before going back to his meal again. Tarma thought about the Time Rift and how it showed him a piece of his childhood memories and yearning to relive it again came back to him. He smiled and turned Marco’s computer chair to faced Kartu.

“My grandfather was the best grandparent in my entire life when I was a child. My grandmother passed away when I was a toddler and my parents made sure that we visit him constantly out in the countryside where he lived. I even spend my summer vacation to visit him when I was given the choice between seeing him or summer camp,” Tarma leaned back carefully in the computer chair and folded his arms behind his head and grinned, “My grandfather was a retired Survival Specialist and he taught me everything I needed to know on how to survive the great outdoors. He showed me how to make campfires, what mushrooms and berries are safe to eat or poisonous. How to make a shelter with branches and wood, and he even showed me how to set up tents and keep food safe from wild animals.”

Kartu paid full attention to every word that Tarma said about his grandfather, “Your grandfather sounds like a great man to meet some day.” said Kartu, smiling. “He did make play time a lot of fun for me and made sure that my visits to see him are the best ones ever. My parents even let him babysit me while they have some alone time or date nights. He even has a cute white cat with a few color blotches on her named Patches. She was a weird cat who chased snakes around my grandfather’s yard and brings them into the house. My grandfather was not happy about it.”

Tarma laughed and then his smile faded into a wistful expression. “One day, he got sick with pneumonia and he was rushed to the hospital and spent his remaining days there till he passed away. I was in middle school back then.” Tarma sighed, he wiped away a bit of tear out of his eyes and grabbed his beer for a sip.

“You had that distance look in you eyes while talking about him.” said Kartu, taking a drink from his water bottle. “A distance look?” Tarma raised a brow. Kartu nodded, “My friend said to me that when someone talked about their friends or family members, they get this distance look in their eyes and you know that they never stopped grieving for them. When you were talking about your grandfather, I saw that distance look in your eyes, you still grieved for him, don’t you?” Tarma was quiet. He stared down at his bottle of beer, gently swishing the remaining liquid in the bottle and looked up at Kartu and quietly spoke, “I miss him every day. Even Marco knows that.”

Kartu’s eyes widen, “I’m sorry, Tarma. I didn’t mean to stir up any feelings inside you. You sounded so fond of him with the stories you shared with me and-” Next thing he knew, Tarma smiled at him and laughed, “Don’t worry about it, Kartu. My grandfather had a good life spent well with me and the family he raised all his life. It’s not like he died a slow and painful death. He died peacefully in his sleep. So don’t worry about it and it feels good to talk about things and sharing fond memories about each other lives. Marco and I and everyone else does it all the time. It gives us new motivation to destroy General Morden once and for all.

Tarma takes the last swig out of his bottle and tossed it into Marco’s recycle bin. It was getting full from all of the other past beer bottles they drank together. “So how was your meal?” Tarma asked while he got up to stretch his arms and legs. “It was great. I never knew that you were a cook.” Kartu smiled and passed off the empty plate and plastic silverware sitting on top of it. “Fio is not the only one who can cook up a mean dish around here. I can cook up every last dish from my country of Japan.” He said with a strong sense of pride in his voice.

“Funny, I thought you want to open up a motorcycle shop when we resign from the military, not a restaurant.” Tarma turned around and standing in the doorway is Marco with a smirk on his face and Fio waving hi to Tarma and Kartu. “I guess I don’t have to worry about preparing Kartu a meal right away. Tarma took care of it for me. Thank you, Tarma.” Fio smiled and offered to take care of the dishes and make Kartu some tea to go with his melon bread. “How far have you gotten with the translation, Kartu?” Marco asked and looked over the notepad. “It’s going great, Mr.Rossi. I’m almost at the end of the first book and I’ll be able to move on to the next one for you.” Marco nodded his head and handed the notepad back to him. “Great job, Kartu and thank you for helping us out.” Kartu smiled and went back to work.

“So, Marco. What’s the news on the train theft?” He said in a low whisper and Marco held his hand up to stop him for a moment. He signals him to follow him to his bedroom and closed the door. “Just as we predicted, Tarma. General Morden is getting help from a new source and they were robbed by a bunch of thugs in animal masks. The train was in bad shape when Fio and I got there and The Ikari Warriors are beaten up from head to toe but they’ll live since they’re the toughest fighters we ever saw.”

“I see, Marco. So now we have General Morden with two mechanical monsters running loose that he can sic them on us at any minute. Isn’t that great?” Tarma sarcastically. Marco rubbed the temples on each side of his head. He told Fio about the dream he wondered if he dares to tell Tarma about it even though Tarma is his best friend.

“Tarma, I got something to tell you about this mess.” Tarma crossed his arms, “I’m listening, Marco.” he said. Marco looked at him seriously in the eyes, “Last night, I dreamed about the train getting robbed by five animals and each of those animals fit in Ralf’s story in the form of people and their masks. I kept it quiet to keep myself looking like a madman till I told Fio and now you about it. Some reason, I’m getting an uneasy feeling that this is no coincidence.” Marco rubbed his chin in thoughts. “So you’re saying that someone or something might be showing you these visions in your sleep. Kartu said something about that happening to him too.”

Marco shrugged, “who knows until we find the answer.” Marco heads for the door. “Marco,” Tarma put a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry, I don’t see you going insane cause you dreamed about a bunch of farm animals stealing a train.” Marco gave Tarma a small grin, “Thanks, Tarma.” And He opened the door.

Oguma didn’t sleep. He hasn’t slept since last night when the news came to him during the late night of working in his office, signing papers and organizing meetings and crunching numbers. Ever since Marco told him to live to see the future of humanity, Oguma quietly disappears to travel the world of humanity and experience their lives in it. When he did return to his company, Oguma began his progress to start over from scratch and used his experiences, knowledge, and new found research to help mankind grow for a brighter future.

His projects have been doing great. So far they have been gaining excellent results on their research and now they’re going to look into making better vaccines for fight off deadly diseases. That night kept playing through Oguma’s head in a loop. He was looking over papers and signing some of them off and looking them over. A door opened and one of his employees stepped in to tell him that they got vital news that needs urgent attention. “I’ll get to it once I finished with these budget reports.” He said without looking up.

“It’s best that you look at them now, sir. It’s more important than crunching numbers right now.” Oguma kept writing, “Just set them on my desk and I’ll look at them when I’m done here.” Oguma said with a impatience tone. “Sir! We found your grandson, Kartu!” There was a loud rip from Oguma digging his pen into the paper and snapped at the man with a bewildered look, “Don’t you dare use my grandson’s murder and disappearance just to get my attention. How dare you to stoop so low to use him to-” He stopped once the folder is opened up and inside are reports on his grandson and where he was last seen. The gray-scale pictures showed him being carried off by the Regular Military, badly hurt and Oguma grabbed the one picture with Marco and the Squad talking to each other while Kartu was taken away to the hospital.

Oguma slouched in his chair, he didn’t bother to look up to see if the employee left the room in silence and looked at the pictures and grab the file reports and read them over multiple times to check to see if this is all true. He felt like he was in a dream in hopes that he never wakes up from and placed his hand on his chest to steady his heart. He looked off at the corner of his eyes at the bottom right drawer and hesitated to open it. He opened the middle drawer of his desk and took out a brass key and unlocked the bottom right drawer.

He took out an old photo of himself and Kartu when he was a little boy. His hair was full colored and have few baby teeth missing. The child was smiling while proudly holding up a turtle to the camera, his clothes were covered in mud and there were leaves and dirt in his hair and in the picture with him was Oguma in his younger days, smiling proudly with his grandson. He set the picture to the side and reached in to pull out a hand sewn stuffed dog his late daughter made for Kartu before he was born. Mr. Woof Woof was his name and he recalls all the fun time Kartu had with him.

“Grandpa! Mr. Woof Woof and I want to be like you someday!” Young Kartu would say with excitement in his voice. The stuffed dog was sewn and re-patched in so many ways but Kartu still loved that stuffed animal. Oguma gently brushed his thumb over Mr. Woof Woof’s cracked button nose “We found him, Mr. Woof Woof and we’re going to bring him home.” Oguma smiled and gave the stuffed dog a hug as if he was hugging his grandson again.


	11. Chapter 11

Marco told his friends the whole story of his current dream down to the last detail. The animals, the desert he was in, the menacing dust storm in a form of a beastly Drake shooting lightning at him. He even told them about the previous dream about the desolated forest and the goats and injured dog he encountered. The room was quiet after he finished his story. At least he doesn’t have to worry about feeling like a maniac anymore. “Did you look up to see what does it all mean to see these animals in your dreams, Marco?” Fio asked him and he replied with a simple shrug.

“I looked them up and the only answer I got for the goats is that it means that I have a lack of judgment or that I’m gullible. The injured dog is my dream telling me that I need to pay better attention to myself and my health or get out of situations that I can get hurt in” Tarma laughed, “You? Gullible or have a lack of judgment? Oh, please Major. You’re the fastest thinker that I ever met. You solve problems without breaking a sweat and put people on edge after you outsmart them.”

Marco crossed his arms and nodded, “Thanks, Tarma. I looked into The Rooster, Horse, and Raven to see what else I might be missing. The Rooster wasn’t much to look into or to look at twice. All they said about that animal is that it symbolizes virility, vigilance, a warning about being cocky, and representing people who are outspoken in their belief.” Eri smirked, “Half of it sounds like Tarma. Well, mostly with the cocky part.” “Ha. Ha. Very funny,” Tarma replied sarcastically. “But continue on with the last two animals. The Horse and Raven.”

Marco closes his eyes and thinks, “The horse, according to my research said the obvious that I heard over the years when I was growing up. Energy, freedom, and power. But in some countries, it symbolizes death. But, it can tell the dreamer that they are bogged don and they should act to speed things up. Like finding Morden’s new partner in crime before he strikes again.”

“And the raven? No doubt it’ll be a bad omen with death, fear, and dark unknown,” said Eri “But I also heard about Ravens being a positive symbol on confronting your fear and seeking the truth, being strong, and the inner powers of healing. I know this cause I dreamt about a raven once in the past.” After putting the gathering information together and everyone carefully thinking it over to help Marco decode these odd animal dreams.

It was Fio that spoke up. “You said you dreamed about an injured dog, right?” Marco said yes to Fio’s question. “Well, if you think about it. We found Kartu badly hurt in the woods. Like how you found that dog being badly hurt in your dream. We didn’t find any goats, though. We found Kartu. What if, the injured dog was Kartu in your dream?” Marco was surprised about Fio’s trails of thought right and she was first to put these puzzles together. “Fio, you’re amazing!” Marco cried out with excitement. “Why didn’t I think of it sooner. It’s making more sense now. Now we can officially say that these dreams are being manipulated by someone. Now we need to know who and why.”

“Good question but we can ask Kartu if we can sit down and read the pages he translated so far,” said Tarma, “Maybe they’ll give us answers on who’s doing this and why.” Fio slid herself off the table she was sitting on, “I would love to join you boys, but I have to help Eri and Nadia out on some spying missions. They found some critical information that can help us uncover who’s really helping Morden out.” Eri opened the door and let Fio through it first. “Good luck you three. Make it back to the base safe and sound.” said Marco.

The information leads them to a Rebel base camp and according to Eri and Nadia’s sources, General Morden and Allen O'Neil will be there to hold a secret meeting with their new partner and it’ll lead them to the stolen mechanical Drake. Fio packed her bag and checked her weapons over and the small digital camera she would use to take pictures when it becomes necessary. Eri, meanwhile did the same and packed a lot of explosives she’s going to rig up to help them escape in case the mission becomes a bust or if they get caught by the Rebels. “Ready, Staff Sergeant, Kasamoto?” Fio smiled to her. Eri smiled a bit back, “Ready, Sergeant Major Germi.” Nadia saluted to them and they aboard the Carrier Copter to their destination.

It was a tranquil night in the outskirt of a small town. Some of the homes were abandoned by their family after they moved out before Morden’s army moved in to capture their hometown. Others went into hiding or trying to carrying on their lives and praying for the Regular Military or the PF Squad to slaughter them all. Fio landed softly in a grassy field with Eri and Nadia and put away their parachutes. She signals the other two girls to move on ahead and they moved silently toward the old farmhouse that has now been converted into a Rebel Basecamp.

The old farm house has seen better days before the war. The barn was turned into a war room for General Morden and Allen O'Neil to discuss their next sinister move and to store supplies in while the house was turned into a communication base to contact all their other bases around the world. Eri, quietly passed some guards and planted bombs into their Jeeps, supply trucks, and some in their motorcycles. Fio and Nadia went around the house to evade the patrolling guards and crept their way to the barn. They pried a loose board open and quietly stepped in.

The barn was lit up with dangling lamps and a generator running in the corner. Nadia kept look out and Fio approached the table and looked at some reports and maps all sprawled out for Morden and Allen O'Neil to look over with this unknown guest coming to see them. Fio took her camera and switched it on and activated the Wi-Fi to send all the pictures back to Head Quarters and Nadia walked around the place to find perfect spots to bug the whole barn. “It’s all the plans to take over a city with the stolen Drake.” Fio whispered to Nadia and snapped pictures of the reports and maps. She even saw a sculpted figure of the Mechanical Drake with words “The Twilight Seeker” carved under its foot and she snapped pictures of it too.

While Fio was busy taking pictures of the plans, Nadia heard a car approaching and voices of General Morden and Allen O'Neil talking and car doors slamming. “We need to get out of here, Fio.” Nadia whispered urgently and headed for the loose board. But as luck would of have it, some Rebel Solider blocked the exit with a heavy crate and Fio looked around out of panic and then elbowed Nadia to scale up the ladder to the hay loft of the barn.

Eri hid up an apple tree the minute she saw General Morden’s car drove in. She kept looking at the car and then at the barn she saw Fio and Nadia disappeared into and back at the car again. Her first thought was to contact Fio and Nadia by radio but before her finger even got the chance to press the intercom button in, she had second thoughts about giving away their positions and withdrew her radio back into her bag. “Dammit, Morden got them cornered without knowing it. I need to get Fio and Nadia out of there safely. But how?” Eri thought about it for a good while. She did booby-trapped their vehicles with bombs but yet she doesn’t know how much pictures they got.

She looked down and saw a Rebel Solider standing underneath her and now she’s trapped just like them. Unlike their predicament, Eri got a simple soldier she can take down, Fio and Nadia got General Morden and Allen O'Neil and their guest to deal with and she has to think fast. Eri places a hand on a branch and discovered that it’s loose and ready to break off and this gave her an idea. The Rebel Soldier below was minding his own business till he heard a snap and quick to aim his gun to the tree and the last thing he saw was a darken object falling down and knocking him out. Eri climbed down and moved the knocked soldier out of sight and made her way to the barn.

“This is wonderful!” General Morden’s voice boomed out with delight and greedily snatched the sculpture of The Twilight Seeker and kept looking it over like a kid with a shiny new toy. The young man in the goat mask smirked. “My grandfather said that you’ll be pleased to hear the news of the successful train robbery. Right now as we speak, it’s in repairs after all those years of being buried in the sand. It’ll be up and ready by tomorrow morning. They laughed and Allen O'Neil turned his attention toward the young man. “Why hide your face, boy? You got no enemies here among us. Relax and take that silly mask off.” Jonas has zero tolerance for Allen O'Neil’s stupidity but he’s forced to since they’re working with The Rebel Soldiers.

“All right, fine,” Jonas said in a harsh voice and he undid the belt strap of the Goat Mask and set it on the table. “I did it on my own term, not yours.” and Allen O’Neil laughed. Fio and Nadia peaked over the ledge of the Hayloft to get a good look at the meeting below. Nimble as she could, Fio would take pictures between noises going on from the outside and she got pictures of Jonas’ face and mask. Nadia, after bugging the place, took out her radio recorder and tune it in just right to listen to the conversation, even though they can hear Allen O'Neil’s loud obnoxious voice right where they stand.

“Now, which one should we conquer first? A village? A town? A City? An entire state in the US? Oh, so many places to choose, so little time to plan it all out.” General Morden said with glee. Jonas grinned and traced his fingers across the map, “I say we should take over Ireland and see how that would work with The Dusk Eater and The Twilight Seeker.” He said, eyeing the country on the map. “Great! We’ll rid of those pesky Hawk Unit who hold their Head Quarters there. They have helped the PF Squad and Sparrow for the last time.” General Morden slammed his fists onto the table.

The Hawk Unit was created to help out the PF Squad to “clean up” any remaining Rebel Soldiers that are staggering to either capture or kill off those that are still fighting against them. Once they are cleared out, The Hawk Unit would move in to claim any empty Rebel bases as theirs or The PF Squad’s own or to secure and protect any territory, with or without cities, towns, or villages involved. The Hawk Unit, like the PS Squad, they have the highest trained men and women around or as Marco puts it, the most psychotic ones in the world except for their slightly crazy Major and their lovable but yet terrifyingly strong Captain, Rasha and Kevin.

“This is not good,” Nadia whispered to Fio “We need to get out of here and contact Head Quarters right away.” Fio nodded and by moving an inch, the floorboard underneath them squeaked and they froze in fear of being caught. The meeting went quiet and all three of the men looked up at the hayloft and Allen O'Neil calmly and quietly strolled underneath it. “It would be a shame if there was somebody we know is up there.” Allen O'Neil winked at them. “What could it be? Rats? Birds? Regular scum wanting to die?” He did not hesitate, General Morden and Jonas covered their ears and took cover. Bullets shells piled around Allen O'Neil’s feet, he let out a maniacal laugh and moved his M60 at random, spraying the entire Hayloft with bullet holes and his gun made a sound he always dreaded.

A clicking sound of a gun running out of ammo. No sign of a body dropping or slumping over the edge, no blood oozing through the holes or cracks of the wood. Just splintered wood and ammo and Rebel Soldiers running into the barn at high alert, armed to the teeth with guns and dogs barking off in the distance. “You nitwit, you could have gotten us killed.” General Morden scolded him, “Sorry, General. I guess I must have gotten trigger happy.” Allen O'Neil replied.

Fio and Nadia were in separate corners, sweat falling down their faces and hearts racing. They held their breath and not making any sudden move, out of fear of setting Allen O’ Neil off again. Outside of the barn, Eri heard the M60 going off and feared for the worst and ran toward the barn now that every Rebel Soldier ran to investigate the shooting. She went around the back and found a recent stacked of crates and climbed them with no problem to the Hayloft’s opening. She made a low psst sound to Nadia and Fio and signaled them to follow her out of the barn. Fio and Nadia climbed out and landed on the ground. “We need to get out of here. We got everything we needed to identify General Morden’s new partners.” said Fio. They peaked around the corner and they found Rebel soldiers patrolling the campgrounds once again.

“I got an idea,” Eri whispered to them “I rigged all of their transports but Morden’s and you two escape in that car while I distract them by setting off the bombs.” Fio’s eyes widen with shock, “What? We’re not leaving you behind, Eri. We’re getting out of here together.” Eri shakes her head, “If we do that, Fio. They can kill all three of us and no one will be there to give the full report on this mission but you and Nadia.”

“She’s right, Fio. We have to warn The PF Squad about The General’s plans on destroying The Hawk Unit.” said Nadia. Fio was hesitant about this idea. She wants all three of them to make it back safe and sound but yet Eri is right about them getting all killed. She hugged Eri tight, “Good luck, best friend.” she whispered and ordered Nadia to follow her to the car. Eri watched them closely to make sure that they were in a safe location and reached into her pocket for a one switch detonator and pressed it.

General Morden felt the whole barn shook around him, followed by the shout and screams of his soldiers. In unison, General Morden, Jonas, and Allen O'Neil ran out to see the carnage laid out before them. Soldiers running all over the place to put out the fire and they witnessed their car getting stolen and driven off. Guns out and shooting at the car, Eri touched off more explosive she hid in their fuel supplies, that would keep them busy while Eri figures a way to escape. She ran toward a motorcycle, untouched by guards and before she could reach for it, she was knocked down to the ground, with a bloody nose and a big fist grasping at her throat.

“I figured it was one of you rats crawling around the camp.” Allen O'Neil Jr sneered at her. Eri kicked her legs and clawed at his arm to make him let her go. He drew his knife out, getting ready to finish Eri off, watching her squirming in his grasp and thought about enjoying it for a bit before killing her. Clawing at him was futile, Eri grasps around for anything and she has to make it fast for the world was turning black around her and she found a handle of her knife and plunged it deep into Allen O'Neil Jr’s hand. The man let out a howling scream of pain and Eri stabbed him in the leg and kicked him in the face.

Leaving her knife in his leg, Eri got on the motorcycle and it instantly roared to life with one with a kick on the starter and took off driving. Eri coughed and regained her focus and drove around the fleeing Rebels and took off onto the dirt road, away from the farmhouse and destruction left behind in her wakes. She glances back at them and looked forward to seeing where she’s going and speed the bike up. Seeing in the Motorcycle’s mirror, a Jeep is speeding up to catch up with her,“They never give up. Those idiots.” she muttered and rev up the motorcycle to go faster.

“I’ll teach you a lesson to stab my boy!” Allen O'Neil grabbed his M60, now reloaded and aimed it at Eri’s motorcycle and shoot. Eri heard a loud pop and her whole body flew right off the motorcycle, taking a nasty tumble and groan out of pain, feeling her arm broken and blood dripping down her face. They’re getting closer and she knows that she can’t outrun them in the way she is now. A small burst of light appeared before Eri and she turned her attention on it.

It was a Time Rift that everyone was talking about and one happened to appeared before her and now she got a choice. Be killed by the Rebels when they get caught up with her or face many of her dark past. She picked the latter and touched it with her good arm and a bright light lit up the whole area, causing the driver to crash the jeep and throwing Allen O'Neil off of it. When the balded man recovered and looked up, Eri was gone.


	12. Chapter 12

“History of regrets, here I come.” She said sarcastically.

When the bright light dimmed away, Eri gave herself a minute to let her eyes adjust and rubbed them. She’s on a cobblestone street and it was a beautiful sunny day. A cool spring breeze blows and ruffles the leaves and pigeons were on the building ledges, cooing softly to each other as they survey for free food to drop at any minute. The buildings were still standing but yet there were Slug tanks parked out in the streets and Eri found some banners with a large A printed on them mixed in with The Rebels. Ripped to shred, soiled, and set on fire under the street lamp and new ones put in their place. They’re the banners that bear the PF Squad’s emblem along with The Regular Military and Sparrow.

“Now I remember. This is the day when we celebrated our successful mission on stopping The White Baby Crisis.” said Eri. She walked down the empty streets, looking around the city and spotting more parked slug tanks and a transportation truck with The Regular Military emblem on the side. She stopped to sniff the air, there was a wavering smell of freshly cooked turkeys, dumplings, a baked ham, and other mouth-watering food and Eri ran to follow the scent of this prepared feast.

Along with the delectable aroma, Eri got close to hear familiar voices talking and laughing with the accompany of dishes and silver wares clanking against each other. She stopped and spotted the large table before her and all of her friends surrounding it and she can feel the festivity in the atmosphere and see their delighted faces.

Past Eri was smiling and helped passed out the food and drinks with Tarma before joining their friends to proclaim their accomplishment over The White Baby Crisis. They laughed and talked about the missions they endeared, the enemies they fought, and cities they won back from the enemies. Even Marco praised Trevor and Nadia for a job well done for their first mission and Trevor was blushing to hear his idol praising him and Nadia was giggling and hoping to do another one in the near future.

Eri let out a small sighed and smiled a bit. She was glad that The Time Rift picked this part of her past rather than any of the assassination and subterfuge plots the government got her involved when they discovered her and took her in to train her to be their personal spy. She remembers her nose hurting and touched it to see if Allen O'Neil jr broke it with his gorilla-sized fists and snapped the nose back into place and reached into her bag for a first aid kit. She found a nose cast was pre-made for her and secure it over her broken nose and took her now blood soaked bandanna off to treat her head.

“So, Eri. Do you got any plans after The War?” Fio asked Past Eri. Eri dropped the bottle of disinfectant and turn her attention to the table. She saw her past-self acting nervously and stalling to give them an answer. All eyes were on her and she tugged at the collar of her shirt. “I-I’m going to stay in the Military?”She smiled nervously in hopes that they would buy it.

“What a bunch of lies and you know it,” Eri scolded at her past-self and stomped her foot out of rage “You had no future and you know it. I should have told them the truth…But I didn’t.” she muttered. She stood in silence, looking away from them all and re-listening to all of her friends’ plans for the future and feeling the set of dread for her own life setting in.

Fio talking about wanting to be a Sports Doctor, Nadia was boasting about wanting to keep working for the Regular Military to live for the thrills and keep herself slim, Trevor already have plans to retire from the Regular Military and pursue a career in Cyber Security, everyone already knew what Tarma’s dream goal was going to be but he bragged about it anyways; to open up his own motorcycle shop with the cash he saved up from the paychecks that The Regular Military gave him, and as for Marco, he thought about becoming a computer tech teacher or work in Cyber Security like Trevor. As time went on, multiple meals have eaten, the sunset over the buildings, giving off a breathtaking view of the sky with mix colors of pink and orange with purple clouds lazily floating over them.

Street lights came on and it was time for The PF Squad and Sparrow to work together once again, this time to tackle dirty dishes, leftover food, and return the furniture back to the restaurant they borrowed from. Marco and Trevor volunteered to take the tables and chairs back while Fio and Nadia packed up any food they didn’t touch to put together as meals for the recovered POWs back at Head Quarters. As for Tarma and Eri, they were left with dishes duty. They filled the tub up with warm water and soap and Eri offered to dry while Tarma washes them.

“Man, I’m so stuffed right now. I won’t be having any problems sleeping tonight.” Tarma chuckled and handed the dishes off to Past Eri to dry. Past Eri was quiet and took her time drying each plate off before moving on to the next one and present Eri knows why she’s being like this. Tarma took his sunglasses off and tuck it in his shirt’s collar to see the dishes better in what light sources they have come from the street lights. He washed another one and handed off to Past Eri, the wet plate slipped out of his grasp and shattered onto the cobblestone street.

“Hey, Eri! Pay attention to what you are doing!” Tarma rebuked at her action. Past Eri didn’t reply and she buried her face into her hands. Here it goes, Present Eri predicted this was going to happen anytime soon. Seeing her sobbing, a wave of guilt came over Tarma and looked at her with remorse in his eyes. “Aww, Eri. I’m sorry to yell at you and don’t cry, it’s just a plate and I’ll help you clean it up and pay the restaurant to replace it.”

“It’s not that, Tarma,” She said between sobs and wiped her tears away and looked at him, “I lied. I lied to all of you when we were talking about our lives after the war.” The tears kept coming and she sniffing her nose constantly to keep them from running. Tarma can see it in her eyes and Eri has lead a secretive life long before she joined their team and took years to open up to them and express her feelings like friends would with each other. Tarma looked around for something for Past Eri to blow her nose on and wipe her eyes.

All he grabbed was a dishcloth and offered it to her. She stared at him as if she was seeing this as nothing more than a sick joke but she knew that Tarma was trying to help her out to calm down and accepted it. All the chairs were gone so Tarma couldn’t offer her one to sit on and suggested the bench outside a Ma and Pa store. He helped her to her seat and adjusted himself to get a clear view of Past Eri’s face. “So, what’s your real plan after the war then?” Tarma asked her and Past Eri shook her head.

“I don’t have one, Tarma. Because I feel like I have no future outside of the military. I didn’t grow up in a perfect home with a mom and dad with brothers and sisters or grandparents who’ll spoil me rotten. I got no one outside of the military. The gang of Street Kids I used to be their leader to growing up? They either moved on or found better lives for themselves.” she sighed and pulled her feet up and wrapped her arms around them, “I don’t have computer skills like Marco and Trevor, I only know few medical skills than Fio, and I can’t even customize a tricycle like you can with your motorcycle.”

She buried her face into her legs, “All I know is how to blow things up, spy, and kill a man in many horrible ways.” Tarma frowned after hearing her thoughts, he never knew that she was holding all of this in and this is the woman that Tarma worked side by side every day in and out of the battlefield, the woman who would make a quick remark at any jokes with her own when he makes one toward her.

Now here she is, like a scared child in the big world without her parents to hold her hands and guide her. Tarma did make a silent vow that one day, he will find Eri’s parents and lashed out at them for abandoning her at birth and put her in this horrid situation. He will get the answer out of them, even if he has to use brute force to get it. “Eri,” Tarma said to her quietly and Past Eri looked at him and sniff.

He reached his hands out and caressed her face gently as if he was holding the most precious thing in the world, using his thumbs to clear any more tears coming down from her cheeks. Past Eri can see Tarma’s eyes has softened and wondered what’s going on in that head of his she always called his coconut head when he said something ridicules in mission briefings. She sniffed and waited for him to speak.

“Come home with me after The War, I’ll take good care of you and you can work with me in my shop.” Past Eri sniffed and looked off at the corner of her eyes. “I don’t know, Tarma.” She hesitated at the idea of being a burden to Tarma, working to support two people even if she was helping him out in his shop. “You can handle the front desk for me while I work on the customers’ motorcycles in the garage.” Tarma Spoke. It didn’t convince her, he can see it on her face and gently let go of her cheeks and thinks.

He rubbed his chin and thinks it over, he even got up and paced around to get the trail of thoughts going and then he stopped and that goofy grin that Past Eri recognized spread across his face, “I got a better idea and you’re going to love it.” Tarma said in an ecstatic voice and Past Eri raises a brow and decided to humor the man, “All right, Tarma. What do you got for me now?” she said, wondering what idea the doofus came up with now.

He placed his hands on his hips, grinning like a loon at her, “I was talking to my parents no too long ago and my mother was telling me about a self-defense teacher retiring in a few years in the city they normally visit to get groceries or dance lessons they signed up for on weekends. I have a thought just now, Eri. You’ll make a great self-defense teacher. After all, I’ve seen you break more enemy’s bones than I would with mine.” He laughed and smiled at Past Eri.

Past Eri sat in quiet and thinks it’s over. It’s better than being stuck behind a front desk all day, shuffling papers around, answering phones, and crunching numbers to see if Tarma’s shop made any profits. Plus, she’ll be helping those who can’t protect themselves and get creative on many ways to hurt would be attackers too. She’ll be helping the weak find their inner strength. Help the defenseless become their own strongest protector to their family, friend, and themselves. Past Eri turned her gaze onto to Tarma’s and smiled.

“You know what, Tarma? That’s the best idea you ever came up and I love it.” Past Eri closed her eyes grinned at him and got off the bench. “I don’t know. I still think strapping a jet engine to a motorcycle is the best idea.” Tarma playfully thinking about it and Past Eri gave him a light punch on the arm, “Again with that death trap? You might as well ask me to blow you up.” she giggled. Eri giggling like a teenage girl was like music to Tarma’s ears. It gave a great feeling that Eri did shed away that lonesome shell she developed over the years and all it took is great friends to crack it wide open.

Tarma took a glance at a nearby street clock and let out a long whistle, “We better finish the dishes and catch up with the others before they come looking for us to see if we got kidnapped or worst.” She agreed and followed Tarma back to the tub with the water now feeling lukewarm to the touch and the soap suds barely there anymore. “Thank you for helping me out, Tarma.” said Past Eri.

“What’s this? Miss Kasamoto thanking the handsome Mr. Roving The Third for helping her?” he teased and Past Eri rolled her eyes at him playfully. “You’re such a dweeb, Tarma.” Past and Present Eri said in unison. Tarma laughed, “I’m your Dweeb, Eri and you know it.” As they went back their dishes duty, the world around Eri faded away into a bright light and back into the present where she belonged.

The starry sky greeted her and the gentle breeze of summer tussled her bangs around, Eri is laying in the middle of the road and tried to get up with her only good arm. She grabbed her bandanna she tucked away in her belt and made it into a makeshift sling, for now, to cradle her broken arm in. The Rebels are long gone now but traces of boot prints, tires tracks heading toward the farm house and the wrecked motorcycle is what they left behind.

Shell casings of the M60 littered the roadside and Eri figured that Allen O'Neil shot them off to get her friends or he did it out of a fit of rage over her escape. She turned around when a car’s engine grew louder and the headlights drew closer to her and she drew a gun out and steady it to shot any Rebels that Morden may have send out to look for her for the second time. The car came to a rolling stop and the engine gone idle and climbing out of both driver and passenger side is Fio and Nadia. “Nadia! She’s alive!” Fio shouted gleefully and runs to Eri.

“I told you Eri is one smart cookie to get herself out of danger. Cookies sound good right about now.” Nadia said and joined Fio and Eri. Fio frowned, she saw the blood on Eri’s face, the broken nose in a cast, and her arm in a sling. “Oh, Eri. They roughed you up, didn’t they?” said Fio, walking her friend to the car they stole from General Morden with Nadia’s help. “That big ape, Allen shot at my motorcycle and blew the tires out. If it wasn’t for The Time Rift suddenly appearing, I would have been road kill by now.”

“You didn’t have a horrible experience with it, did you?” Nadia asked Eri, concern what grisly part of her life it might have shown her and Eri smiled and shook her head, “No, Nadia. Thankfully, it didn’t. All it did is renew my hopes of a better life for me.” Fio and Nadia looked at each other and wondered what Eri was talking about.

Fio opened the car’s door for the back seat and instructed her to lay down and secure her in place. She stared up through the sunroof of the car to the clear starry sky and thought back on The Time Rift she experiences. The conversations, Tarma’s suggestion to becoming a Self-Defense teacher, and the huge feast they had to celebrate White Baby’s defeat. All the fighting and sneaking around tonight made Eri tired. Nadia checked on her once in awhile to make sure she’s okay while Fio drove. The lulling of the night gave comfort to the young lady and Eri drifted off to a peaceful slumber.


	13. Chapter 13

_“In the beginning, we died to be born.”_

_“In mankind’s world, we lead simple lives and co-exist with the human race. We were their faithful pets, hard farm workers, providers of food, and we herald the arrival of death at their front doors. We at the time didn’t speak their foreign languages, grasp their understanding of time, or seek out quest for knowledge to expand our lives for they already done it for us. They lead complicated lives while we lead simpler ones. We live and we die and we complete the cycle of life and death.”_

_“But one day, The Universe has a different idea for us and we began our new life with a different purpose and mankind knew so little of it. For The Universe developed a need to preserved the past to become the tools of a better future for mankind and all living things. But The Universe knew man can lie, manipulate, and alter the past for its own personal gains and leave the future beyond repair. So it turned to us to be their loyal servants to archive the past and lead us all to a better future.”_

_“ Our lives began in the Age of Early Christianity, mankind valued their lives over ours and against our past selves’ will, they buried us alive in the name of protecting their churches from Sinners and Grave Robbers. With our last breath, we are born as what man calls us, The Church Grims, or Grims for short.”_

_“But what mankind didn’t know, we did more than protecting sacred grounds. The Universe gift us the ability to control time and space, see into the future and share to those who seek it, control one’s dreams at will, summon runkavles to perform time spells in a pinch, change into our human appearances, and last, The Universe gave us another gift, The Gift of Knowledge to the world’s secrets.”_

_“When our race became more aware in the world of man, they came to us for our gift to see into the future, for this is where we created the long forgotten ritual, Arsgang or as most would call it, Year Walk. We witnessed man’s joy, anger, and fear for the future and begged us to help them change it. But The Universe refused to let us help them but only teach them to do it on their own and we’ll only intervene when The Universe allowed us. This went on for a decade till mankind lost their belief in it and it quietly faded away into non-existent and we continued our true purpose that The Universe created us for; to archive the past of The Human Race to help create a better future for us all.”_

_“We wrote till our hands are sore, we built bigger buildings to make room for more records of the past, we won’t rest till our mission from The Universe is complete, and we take pride in our work to create a better future for mankind and Grim. We have high hopes for a brighter future, man is doing great under our watchful eyes, the balance in The Universe is in perfect harmony, and we hold our heads up to praise for a better life on Earth.”_

_“Then one day, The Tuaha De Dunan came and all was lost. Forever.”_

Marco let go of the pages and let them lightly fall back on the notepad and set it on the table that Kartu is sitting at. The Young Man completed most of the translation for now after his pencils’ leads either broke or wore down to a useless nub to keep going and Kartu told Marco that by his guesses on the rest of the books is going to be The Grim’s history of hatred toward his race. “Walk with me, Kartu. I want to know more about who these Grims are.”

It was nice to get out of Marco’s Computer lab and to be free to roam, even if he was ordered to follow Marco where ever he went and Poor Kartu can feel the eyes of everyone in Head Quarters staring at him and whispering behind his back. Marco walked up to the double doors and swung them both open with his hands and took Kartu into a wide opened courtyard. Kartu was amazed to see a well-kept garden right here in the center of a base built out of cold steel. It was a fresh breath of air for him to have a new scenery to look at for once rather than seeing nothing but computer monitors everywhere and Artificial Life he couldn’t touch. He smells the aroma of Lilacs in bloom, “Ah, I see you planted some Syringa vulgaris, The Common Lilac. Part of the Olive family and known to grow in rocky hills.”

Outside of researchers, scientists, and educators. Marco barely met many people who can say the Scientific Names of Plants and Animals so easily. But they’re here to talk in privacy and Marco wanted to get some fresh air after sitting so long and reading the transcripts. “I’m impressed that you know your plants, Kartu.” Marco smiled a bit and kneel down to pick a small purple flower.

“ Thanks, Mr. Rossi. Growing up, I was taught the name of all the plants and animals by their Scientific names and their common ones. I love nature a lot and spent my free time reading and learning about them.” he said, taking the flower from Marco’s hand and identifying it as Viola Tricolor, or just a violet. Marco got up and brush the dirt off his pants,“Wow, I wonder if you can out knowledge Tarma on Nature, he’s better at it than me. Spent his life camping while growing up.” Kartu nodded, “I guess we’ll have to see if he’s not busy in his garage.” Kartu replied.

Marco sat down on a bench and watched Kartu explore their courtyard like a toddler discovering the outside world for the first time. He thought it would be best to let The Young Man have his fun before he began grilling him with a lot of questions about The Grims. He took a pack of cigarette out of his pocket and lit one. Deep in his thoughts like always, Marco mentally re-read the part about The Universe’s gift it gave to The Grims and the one that stuck out to him like a sore thumb was their ability to control dreams.

Could this be the final answer he was looking for and if so, why would The Grims pick him, of all people in this world to be showing him the outcome of the future? He rubbed his eyes with one hand and took a puff out of his cigarette. He gets one answer to a question and suddenly another one pops up before him. “Mr. Rossi?” Kartu nudged him enough to snapped The Major back into reality and Kartu stood in front of him, “I’m sorry for wasting your time and you must have a lot of questions for me to answer. I’ll try as I can to answer them all.”

“It’s all right, Kartu. No pressure if you can’t answer them all.” He took another drag from his cigarette and put it out in a nearby ashtray stand and slide over for Kartu to sit down with him. Kartu took his seat next to him, “So which question are you itching to ask me first?” Kartu asked him while Marco thinks them over and turned his attention toward him, “First of all, what does The Grims mean they were pets or farm workers?” Marco asked.

“They use to be animals before your race began sacrificing them when new churches were built and in order for a Grim to be “Born”, an animal has to give up their life by being buried alive in a corner of a church. Five different animals are used for this morbid ritual: Horse, Raven, Rooster, a Black Dog that has to be pure black, and a Goat. “ said Kartu.

“But how do Grims keep being born in this time and age? We don’t do those inhumane things to animals these days when it comes to building churches.” Said Marco “ The Universe made sure that by creating more Grims through actual death of the animals. My friend told me about this when we were growing up and he has more knowledge about his race than I do.” said Kartu, Gently poking a ladybug to make it move.

Now this got Marco curious and he has to ask Kartu with this new question that came to his mind, “Is your friend by any chance a Grim himself?” he asked and Kartu only shook his head yes. “We kept our friendship a secret from our grandfathers cause of our race hating each other. Even though The Grims have a strict rule about killing, they won’t hesitate to rid of those who have Evil in their heart, mind, and soul. That’s why The Grim made it their personal goal to rid of me and my race.” said Kartu.

“No offense but they did try to kill my friend, Ralf and his team. Well, The Raven Woman was the one who tried to kill him with a throwing knife. Luckily they all walked away with injuries.” said Marco and he can see that this bothered Kartu. “I can understand the fighting since they’re trying to tire or knock out your friends but killing. This is new to me. Why would they break that sacred rule?”

Marco cleared his throat and looked up to the sky, he can see the faint light of the sunset and birds flying across the sky. “I got two more questions and I think that would be it for me unless I come up with more.” he said. “I’m listening.” Kartu giving him his full attention. “What is a Runkavle and how are they manipulating my dreams?” Marco asked him. Kartu sighed, trying to find the right words and looked at Marco from the corner of his eyes. “Do you got a paper and pen?” Marco reached into his pants pocket and handed them to him and he opened it on a clear page, “Okay. A Runkavle is when you combine different runes together to make one Runkavle.” He drew up a sample one. “Each Runkavle holds a different power for The Grim to use on themselves or on anyone of their picking.” He drew another sample.

“This will also answer your next question, Mr. Rossi. A Grim put a Dream Runkavle mark on you when you were either sleeping or passed out, it’s easier for them to mark you with it when your mind is at rest and your awareness is relaxing.” He handed the notepad back to him and Marco got a better look to understand these odd markings. “I think I got everything I need to know. You want to stay out here for a little longer? We have fireflies that come out here at night.”

Kartu was delighted to be given this offer but before he could yes to it, Tyra slammed the doors wide open and birds who were sleeping in the trees took flight into the darken sky. “Sergeant Germi and her team are back, Major and they bring back terrible news.”


	14. Chapter 14

It was worst than what The PF Squad had thought. The recordings and the pictures showed what attacks are to come from General Morden and they have to act quickly to warn The Hawk Unit from the coming doom that The Rebels are going to drop on their doorstep. Trevor and Marco got the bigger screen prep and ready due to a certain member of The Hawk Unit, as they would put it in The PF Squad and Sparrows, a Mountain of a man. They typed away at their computer and talked into their headset till finally, the screen comes to life, sitting in front of the monitor was a scrawny looking man, he’s wearing a Rebel helmet with the logo scratched away at it and replaced with The Hawk Unit’s emblem. He even wore an altered Rebel uniform where the sleeves were ripped off to show off his thin arms and he wore a band around his arm with The Hawk Unit’s emblem too.

“Major Rossi, what can Private Ferdinand do for you?” The man quickly saluted to Marco and then stumbled to grab his cup of coffee from spilling. Ferdinand is just a harmless nickname that Kevin Tarbh gave him when they learned that The Rebel solider they encounter wasn’t a fighter, he was a man of peace. After The Hawk Unit moved in to clear out any Rebel soldiers that they could find, Ferdinand or by his real name, Dustin, confessed that he never wanted to fight this war for he never wanted to hurt anyone. So Major Rasha Bilby spared him and gave him a job that is less grisly for him to handle.

Basically, small jobs to do around the Hawk Unit base. “Aye, the lad reminds me of a wee bull name Ferdinand. A lover, not a fighter.” Kevin would laugh and slap him on the shoulder hard enough that it knock the poor guy down easily like paper. “I want you to get Major Bilby and Commandant Tarbh, pronto Private Ferdinand. We got dire information to share with your higher up.” With a look of bewilderment in the man’s eyes. He took off running, yelling for his superiors’ name and the sound of footsteps fading away.

For a small man, he was sure quick on his feet and he leads a woman in her early twenties into the room and the silver hair woman with blue eyes sat down. “Talk to me, Major Rossi. This better be good.” Major Bilby said while yawning from her sleep she was awakened from. Rasha Bilby is the leader of The Hawk Unit. She has shoulder length hair and an orange bandanna tied around her neck. She wore a light brown crop jacket with two pockets on each side and her Unit’s emblem sewn on her left sleeve. The young woman even has matching short pants to go with her jacket and a black belt to go with it.

She took out her smoking pipe with the bowl of the said pipe carved out of white stone in a shape of a gargoyle-like saber tooth tiger head. She stuffed it with tobacco pipe shredding and lit it while listening to Marco’s report he gained from Fio and her squad. She took a puff of smoke out of her pipe. “Thanks for the warning, Major Rossi. I’ll make sure that every last solider here is on high alert and have spotlights on the sky in case that flying abomination tries to strike us.It’ll be best if you come here and help us in case they strike us.” She’s about to take a puff of her pipe when she felt the ground rumbling and a man, larger than Marco and Tarma combines comes into the scene.

She held on to the desk and Kevin showed, “Aye, Rasha my lass. I’m sorry to be late for the meeting.” said Kevin awkwardly smiling while scratching the back of his head. No matter how many time The PF Squad and Sparrows see Kevin, they can’t get over how large this muscle mass of a man is (Or as Rasha puts it, Bara size). Just by standing next to this Irishman, he makes Marco feel like he’s Fio’s size and with Fio standing next to him, he makes her feel like she about the size of a child next to him. But under that muscles is a gentleman with a heart of gold. Or Irish Gold that is.

Kevin has fiery red hair and sideburns and he wore a dark purple vest with a black shirt under it. The man wore fingerless gloves cause according to him, he wants The Rebels to feel it coming. He has a hook nose and brown eyes and military green pants. Rasha brushed away the shredded tobacco that fell out of her pipe. “You missed what Major Rossi told us. He said that General Morden is going to ambush us with his new weapons.” Rasha has to look up to tell him that. “General Morden? I will murder that filthy Fecker!” He slammed his fist so hard that poor Rasha quickly backed off when the table next to them split into two and fell apart.

She turned her head just enough to see Kartu peering his head in to see what is going on. “Who’s the kid in the doorway?” She pointed and they all turned to stare at him. “That’s Kartu, Major Bilby. He’s been a great help to us lately in all of this.” Rasha closed her eyes to think while puffing smoke out of her pipe. “Bring him with you to Ireland. Someone here is looking for him.” Raising a lot of brows, they wondered what Rasha means by that before signing off. “Do you think we should, Marco?” Tarma whispered to him and Marco looks at Kartu and then back to the others.

“I don’t know. Major Bilby is rarely wrong about anything. This is the woman who uses what facts she learned and never gone to college to get out any situation in the battlefield. We better see if he has any fighting skills or arrange to escort him.” said Marco and they looked at Kartu again. “Kartu, can you fight?” Marco asked him and Kartu didn’t have to say a word when he revealed the cuffs on his wrist can summon up a shield and sword for him to use in fights and they took it as a yes. “My grandfather has them made to keep me safe from harm.” he said. Marco nodded, “Then let’s move out.”

Another storm was brewing and it’s been awhile since they were in Coalwood to be in one again. Eri was given the okay to go when they checked her over and found out that she didn’t have a broken arm, she had it popped out of placed and they helped her popped it back in. Marco sat in silence in the carrier plane and listen to the rain hitting the plane’s roof and Tarma sat and read his motorcycle magazine. Marco looked over and he can see Fio and Kartu talking together along with Eri and Nadia.

They were giggling like a bunch of school kids and Marco smiled. It was nice to see Kartu getting along with the girls and Fio is great at making friends with anyone she meets, even those like Eri and Leona who takes a good time to come out of their shells. From the current lack of sleep, Marco can feel himself nodding off to sleep and soon his eyes are completely closed.

Marco is felt like he’s getting tired of these odd dreams lately, even after learning who’s controlling them. The sky was pure red and everything else around him and himself are all in black and white. A cold wind blew through the wide open grassy valley and Marco walked through it, keeping a close eye on a flock of ravens suddenly appearing on the edges of the valley. Cawing at him as he passed them by and they all took flight when an echo of a gunshot went off. Marco didn’t know if he wants to stay where he is or run toward the sound of the gunshot.

Strange forces were at work and they made him pick the latter option. His breathing is heavy from the running and he can see the returning ravens cawing at him and fill the ledge up in a tidy row to make themselves look like a streak of black line against the red sky. He came to a slowing stopped and found a man in a general uniform and cap with his back turned and holding a smoking gun and laying on the ground was a large goat, the same one from his first dream. Devil horns grew out of the man’s head and he turned to face Marco, gun pointing at his chest with a morbid twisted grin on his face.

Marco grabbed his gun and ran toward him, he raised his gun, finger on the trigger, and he pulled.

Marco jolted awake and everyone buckled in for a rough landing and the storm aggressively came pouring down on the roof of the plane. They felt the plane skidding across the landing strip and the tail of the plane harshly swinging back and forth. The Squad was tossed around and then, everything stopped. Everyone unbuckled themselves and Marco and Fio asked their team if they’re all right. “I never felt a thrashing that big in my whole life and I use to get into fist fights.” said Walter, while rubbing his head. “Nothing broke over here, Major.” said Tyra, unbuckling herself from her seat.

They stood at the bay door and waited for the pilot to give them the all clear. The light switched from red to green and the bay door opened. They all gasped in unison and prepared themselves a fighting of a lifetime.


	15. Chapter 15

Marco was having a second thought about taking Kartu with them and ordered him to be taken as far away as possible to a bunker room to come back for him later after they help The Hawk Unit out in their raging battle against The Rebels. The storm grew worst and flying through the sky they thought Eri blew up for good is The Dusk Eater, reigning down terror among The Hawk Unit soldiers and making a sharp U-turn to breathe more fire.

“Everyone, we need to split up and find Major Bilby and Commandant Tarbh.” Marco shouted and the team was split up into groups of two. Marco and Fio took Trevor and Tyra with them while Tarma and Eri took Nadia and Walter and split up. They ran toward the flaming city and fought their way through against The horde of Rebel soldiers running right at them. Getting into the city was one thing but fighting inside was another challenge. A gigantic shadow ran across the roofs of buildings, following Marco and his team and Marco screamed at everyone to stop when a beam of lighting came at them, leaving burnt marks on the toes of Marco’s boots and the laugh of Allen O'Neil soon followed.

“Why isn’t it the Chicken Squad.” Allen O'Neil mocked them and jumping from the rooftop is The Twilight Seeker itself. The Mechanical Drake made Allen O'Neil looks small and the beast has static crackling from its mouth. Its horns are made of wires wrapped and weaved together and metal poles sticking out of it to collect electricity from the violent storm. It has saber tooth fangs to help bite down on anything with no problem and sharp claws to tear into strong steel and a long thick tail to knock buildings down. Its hide is a dark as the storm itself with piercing yellow eyes.

Marco and his team drew their weapons out, preparing to fight Allen O’ Neil and The Twilight Seeker and Allen O'Neil burst out laughing again, “Oh, this is rich. You little children up against this beast? I’ll let you all have a chance at that.” The Twilight Seeker Lunged and Marco ordered the group to scatter before The Mechanical Drake snatched up Marco with its powerful jaws. “Major!” Tyra shouted and quickly took cover when Allen O’ Neil shoots off his M60 at them. They want to help Marco but yet the maniac behind the M60 is refusing to let them get near The Twilight Seeker to help.

Marco fought against The Twilight Seeker, he mustered all his strength to keep the jaws from snapping shut on him and his arms and legs from buckling on him. But The Twilight Seeker refused to give up and shook its head to make Marco lose his balance and Marco is refusing to budge an inch. It roared out frustration and charged up its lighting cannon to rid of him instead. He closed his eyes shut and looked away to prepare himself for the end of his life. Allen O’ Neil stopped to watch The Twilight Seeker end Marco’s life and grin and shout out of excitement.

Fio’s eyes teared up out of horror to witness Marco’s soon to be death. “Marco!” She cried out his name and charging out of the right side of the buildings’ alleyway was Kevin. He leaped out and gave The Twilight Seeker a right hook so hard that it interrupted the Drake’s charging cannon and dislocated its jaws. Just enough to break down and free Marco from its clutches. Kevin gave out a hearty laugh as The Twilight Seeker stumbled to try to fix its broken jaw. “Did that knuckle sandwich suited your puny lizard, O’ Neil?” He smirked and this made Allen O’ Neil inflamed. “I thought my son was taking care of you.” He shouted at Kevin. “Aye, maybe you should of spend more time teaching him how to fight more than how to groom his beard.” Kevin taunted him.

Trevor, Tyra, and Fio ran to Marco’s side and Fio hugged him and Marco put his arm around her in return. “Thanks for saving my hide, Commandant Tarbh. Can you handle him on your own?” He asked him and Kevin laughed, “I took care of his boy and I got the bruises and the black eye to show it,” he replied and got into a boxing stance to fight Allen O’ Neil, “You gather your flock and go help Major Bibly, she’s a sitting duck right now as we speak.” Marco ordered everyone to move and they obeyed. Before Fio followed the rest, she quickly hugged Kevin and thanked him for helping Marco. Kevin smiled and gently patted her head, his hand almost took up her whole top of her head, “You get going, little Sparrow. Your Falcons needs you.” Kevin said softly to her and she ran off to catch up with them. Kevin is a mountain of a man but deep inside that man of muscle is a heart of gold that beats within or as Rasha puts it, “He was born with a heart on his sleeve and that heart is made of gold.

“Ready for an ass whooping, ya wee gutless man.” he said, gripping his fists. Allen O’ Neil gritted his teeth and they charged at each other.

Tarma and Eri lead the team through the street and duck for cover when The Dusk Eater swoops in to breathe fire over them and they fire back at The Mechanical Dragon. The storm kept pouring down on them and Tarma couldn’t spot where The Dusk Eater flew off and he signals everyone with the wave of a hand to follow him close and they kept low and moved slowly as they can and hit the ground when The Dusk Eater swiped at them with its claws. “This is going to take us forever to find Rasha and Kevin.” Walter shouted over The Dusk Eater’s whirlwind it was creating with its wings to try to uncover them.

It knocked over cars and knocked over street lights like trees and let out a loud roar and took flight again to perch on a building, roaring and scaring away any Hawk Unit soldiers to grab hold of a spotlight with its claws to shine down onto the streets. They took cover again and move away when it shines nears them. This is not looking good for Tarma and Eri’s team and they need to get that thing away from them but how? Tarma looked for any cars or tanks he can grab and use to lure away. They were all wrecked and slimming down his chances.

He spotted something and grinned and Eri knows that grin all too well. “Hello, beautiful.” Tarma purred and in a fast pace walked up to a parked motorcycle and found the keys still in its ignition and starts it up. “What are you doing?” Eri shouted and ran towards him. “I’m going to make a distraction while you three get to Major Bilby.” said Tarma and found a rocket launcher inside the saddlebag of the motorcycle. “What? You’re going to get yourself killed!” Eri glared at him and Tarma smiled back at her. “For some reason, having you saying that is like some kind of good luck spell to me.” He started the motorcycle up and used his handgun to shoot out the spotlight.

It worked and it got The Dusk Eater’s attention and Tarma took off down the crowded city road of destroyed tanks, crashed cars, and tossed helicopters. The Dusk Eater let out a distress call and The Twilight Seeker came crawling over the rooftops toward The Dusk Eater. It saw its broken jaw and helped it snap it back into place and both took off following Tarma.

Rasha is outnumbered and her wall of sand bags is more damaged than it could take and she can’t move with her leg being stabbed and broken. The men she had with her were all gunned down by Allen O’ Neil and she got her leg stabbed by the same man and broken when one of The Rebels touched off a bomb, sending her flying through the air like a rag doll. She’s running out of ammo and all of her grenades is gone. She heard some splashing of puddles and turned around to find three Rebel soldiers, guns out and pointing at her head.

As they about to pull the trigger, multiple guns shots went off and all three of them fell down and Marco and his team all have their guns out and the barrels smoking. “What took you so long, Major Rossi?” she said, grabbing one of the dead Rebel’s guns and checked it for bullets and used the gun on the Rebels. “Allen O’ Neil is what took us so long and that Drake he sic on us. I could have been killed if it wasn’t for Commandant Tarbh to disarmed it.:” Marco fired back at The Rebels, “So the meathead found you all. Where’s Captain Roving?” She asked and fired another round.

As all five of them joined together to fight off The Rebels. Eri, Nadia, and Walter shortly joined them and they had no problem finishing off all the remaining Rebels standing. “Eri, where’s Tarma?” Said Marco, checking for any more Rebels and gunning one down. “He took off on a motorcycle to lure The Dusk Eater and The Twilight Seeker away from us,” Eri replied, “He better come out of this alive, dammit.”

Tarma shot back at the dragons chasing after him with rockets and it didn’t do much. He shot off the last of his ammo and discarded the gun itself and sped up faster even with the gas running low. The Twilight Seeker’s scales began to glow and static covered its entire body and it lifted trucks, demolished tanks, planes, and cars and threw them one by one at Tarma and he swerved to dodge everyone and move out of the way to avoid getting burned. The Dusk Eater flew ahead and The Twilight Seeker rooted Street lights and threw them at Tarma to block his path.

Tarma threw a grenade at a wall already crumbling and blew up a hole big enough for him to drive through. The Squad heard an engine growing louder and Kevin stepped up behind them, bloody and clothes ripped from his fight. “Eh, does anyone else hear that or did Allen docked my ears good?” he said and Tarma sped by them, followed by the dragons. “Where is he going, Major? Why is he heading toward that tunnel?” Rasha sounding alarmed and tried to crawl over the sand bags to stop him. “He can’t go in there! We rigged that whole tunnels with bombs!” She shouted at them.

“You got to be kidding me? Why did you do that?” Marco shouted. “We did it in case The Rebels brought in tanks or trucks so we can touch them off and create a cave in.” Aghast for his friend’s safety, He grabbed his radio and contacted Tarma right away. “Tarma, can you hear me? Turn back! Get out of the tunnel at once!” But there was no reply and Marco contacted him again, “Tarma, I repeat! Get out of there!” What they didn’t know is that Tarma did reach for his radio to be struck out of his hand by The Dusk Eater’s fire.

The Twilight Seeker climbed over the top of the tunnel while The Dusk Eater clawed its way inside it. Tarma hears the engine dying and he cursed looking down at the fuel tank gauge’s needle pointing at E and he jumped off the motorcycle. It squirmed, it dragged itself toward Tarma, jaws snapping and roaring at him. He drew his gun and shot it in the eye, making it thrashed about in pain and Tarma yelped and missed getting crushed by The Twilight Seeker’s paw. The Twilight Seeker let out a rumbling growl and charged up its lighting beam.

Kevin showed Eri where the wire box for the bombs are and ripped the lid off it as if it was made of paper and let Eri get to work right away. She traced her fingers over the wires and went away snipping at them one by one in a fast fury. She shook away any rain drops falling over her face and went back to cutting wires. “It’s almost disarmed.” She said and cut the last wire. They all held their breath and the air was eerie quiet except for the rain falling around them and distance rumble of thunder. “You did it, Lass! We can go retrieve the lad and-”

To everyone, they didn’t see it coming. Kevin grabbed Eri and shield her from the bomb blast and they all watched in horror as the explosion erupted through the roof and entrance ways, collapsing onto itself in flames and smoke. Rasha ordered the rushing Hawk Unit soldiers to move in and put out the fire and form a search and rescue.

Marco is in distraught and took a few step back, he can’t look away from the smoke and fire. Heart racing, mouth dry, and eyes fully wide. He ran, screaming Tarma’s name and pushing soldiers to the side to head for the smoldering rubble to search for his friend, with The Squad following him from behind. “Oye, don’t just stand there like a bunch of fence posts, lad. We got a man to save.” Kevin ordered them and he began lifting huge debris and throwing them to the side. Marco’s breathing is heavy and he’s pleading for Tarma to be alive and kept shoving rubble around. They worked none stop, even when the storm broke away in hopes to find him alive.

Walter helped Kevin move debris around and passing them off to Trevor to discard to the side. Trevor heard something and he held his hand up to let everyone know to stop and pointed to the source of the painful moaning and Kevin moved in to help move a huge chunk of wall. Under that chunk of wall was the now lifeless claws of The Dusk Eater and Kevin have an Engineer come in to cut claw it off with a blow torch and lifted away. “Praise the Saints! He’s alive, Major Rossi!” Kevin burst out into a Hearty laugh and they helped Tarma up.


	16. Chapter 16

Kartu jumped out of his seat and the room was filled with the sound of the distance explosion and The Young Man sat back down on the bench and rubbed the side of his head. He’s getting tired of it and he wants answers to his own questions and the only ones he found since he’s been brought to The Regular Military’s Head Quarters were the ones that Marco and his friends were looking for to their own mystery. What’s worst is the dreams he’s been having that he never brought up to Marco or anyone.

In his said dreams, he kept seeing a cloaked figure with a mask on and holding a knife dripping with blood. The man was upset for some reason and panicking too. He couldn’t figure if the man was trepidation for his plans going wrong or if it because of Kartu is still alive. This mess is nothing more than a big headache but yet he is thankful for Marco and his friends for finding him and helping him recover and providing food and shelter while The Young Man in return helped them translate the books they found.

He let out a sigh and sat still in the quiet room and the rain tapping against the window. Wait, it’s impossible for the rain to hit the window for the way the bunker is built and he got up and walked toward the door. There was nothing there but an empty stairway and he jumped back yelling when a horse’s face appeared and punched the glass out of the door. Kartu stood back and summoned his sword and shield from his cuffs and the man shoved his whole arm through the port and grabbed hold of the door’s wheel to turn it. What was he going do? The man is huge and Kartu is a small framed man who can’t punch him down. He’ll either fight and lose or outsmart him.

The door opened and stepping into the room is Bronco along with Hellhound. “You put your toys away, kid. We’re not here to hurt you by Master’s orders.” Bronco spoke and pointing at him. “Who is your Master?” Kartu snapped back at them “I’m not going anywhere unless I know who they are and what do they want from me.” Bronco smirks and turns his head the slightest. “You heard that, Hellhound? The little colt wants to know who’s our Master is and what he wants with him.” Hellhound laughed, “Listen here you little pup. If you come with us quietly and not put up a fight. You’ll get your answers in person.”

Kartu took a step back from them and looked around the room to see if there’s anything that would help him get out of here without getting grabbed or hurt. He looked up and saw a light fixture above them. His sword is long enough to hit it and it’ll go dark for him to escape. It’s a chance to take and he has to make it count. He thrust his sword upward and shattered the bulb and it rains down sparks and broken glass around the men. Bronco and Hellhound stumbled around the room, yelling and knocking stuff over and Kartu made his get away.

Hellhound thought he got him until Celestial came down the stairs and shine his lantern on the two to reveal that he only got Bronco’s arm and Bronco elbowed him in the chest for it. “You stinking mutt, you let him get away. The Master will be furious for it.” Bronco chewed him out. “You stupid Gelding. We got Poe outside to hunt him down and he won’t get far with her.” Bronco yelled and got into a fight with Hellhound for being called a Gelding and Celestial have to step in to stop them. “Kill each other later! We got Kartu to chase down!”

Running up the stairs, Kartu ran into the open pouring rain and skid to a halt when Poe threw down her throwing knives to stop him. He slipped in the mud and got back up to keep running from them. Now the chase is on. Poe leaped out of the tree and gave chase after Kartu into the woods, down the muddy road away from the bunker and The Landing Strip. Kartu kept running and he would look back at Poe and would try to outrun her.

He summoned his sword from his cuffs again and slashed down some trees to block Poe’s path and kept running away from her. It’ll buy him some time if Poe hasn’t scaled over them like they were nothing and kept on her pursuit. He stopped to catch his breath and frantically looked around for a place to hide but all he can see is trees around him and have no choice but to climb one. He grabbed a branch and climbed up into one and flopped himself down to catch his breath.

Poe stopped and looked around and checked the ground to see where the footprints would lead her. Not long after, Bronco and the others joined up with her and helped her with the search. “Where could he go? He couldn’t have just up and vanish, did he?” said Bronco, pushing back branches on the bushes and startling the birds inside them. Kartu held his breath and pray that they didn’t try to look up the tree he’s in. He kept a close eye on them, waiting for them to go away so he can make his escape. He felt a pair of steel claws on his shoulder and he froze. “Hello there, little chick. You didn’t think you would hide from us, did you?” Celestial said cooly.

Kartu yelled and lost his balance. Celestial reached for his shirt resulting in him scratching him from his chest to over his shoulder. If it wasn’t for Bronco being under that tree to catch him, Kartu would have been off with worst injuries than this deep scratch. He squirmed in his arms and summoned his sword again slashed wildly at them. “Which one of you got the knockout drug? I can’t ho-” Bronco got elbowed in the jaw and he let go of Kartu. The Young Man stood his ground with his shield and sword ready to fight against them even though he was outnumbered.

“Don’t hurt him anymore, fellas. Lets makes him dog tired from fighting us.” said Hellhound and he threw the first punch and Kartu dodged with his shield. He swung back and they moved and circled around him. He reflected Poe’s kick and move out of the way from Celestial’s slashing and duck from Bronco’s punch. His breathing is heavy and he felt light headed, touching his head to relieve any blurriness he’s experiencing and Celestial laughed, “The jokes on all of you. I laced my claws with a drug that can knock anyone out with one scratch.” Bronco glared at him, “Does the master knows about this?” Bronco asked him.

“You better use the correct amount of dosage on him, Celestial or The Master kill you if he overdoses and dies on us.” said Hellhound. “Yes, Celestial. It’ll be a shame if I have to kill you for screwing up.” Said a voice and they turned toward the young man in a Goat mask. Kartu was clutching at his chest and stared up at the new arrival, his vision was going in and out and fought against the drug to get a good look at the mask and it was the same one from his dream. “Master, he was making us run around like-”

“Like a chicken with its head cut off?” He hissed at him, “I want him back unharmed but yet drugged or tired out from fighting and you screwed it up, Celestial!” He chewed him out and turned his attention toward Kartu. His attitude suddenly changed when he got near Kartu and helped him to a nearby tree, “I am so sorry to put you through so much stress, Kartu,” he said, “The drug he used on you will render you from speaking till it wears off and you wake up.” Kartu weakly groaned and he reached out a shaking hand and grabbed his mask but he didn’t have enough strength to remove it and smear his blood on it.

“It’s okay. You have a lot of questions to ask and my grandfather and I are willing to answer them all for you,” He took off his mask to reveal his face to him, smiling at him. “You know your friend Jonas will never let anything bad happen to you.” said Jonas and he waved Bronco over to help him with Kartu. Bronco stepped over and he stopped when a single bullet passed them by and all five of them looked up and saw Trevor Spacey, gun pointed at them. “You get away from him.” He said in a harsh voice and Walter, Tyra, and Nadia also step forward, guns out too. “Trevor, that’s Jonas Kronos, Fio and I saw him at the meeting with General Morden. The same man in our pictures.”

Jonas was flustered and trying to come up with a plan to get away and take Kartu with him too. But Bronco has other ideas and he grabbed his master. “What are you doing? We are not leaving without him!” Jonas shouted and fought against the man, “There’s no point in fighting them, Master. They can gun us all down easily. No matter how many times we get up and keep fighting,” Jonas fought against him, “Or do you want to watch him die again?”

Jonas ceased his struggle and swipe up his mask and ran with the other four into the woods, retreating for now and leaving Kartu in the hands of The PF Squad once again. Trevor put his gun away and ran to Kartu side, asking him if he’s okay and saw how badly his wound is. Kartu’s head was swimming and Trevor was ordering Tyra to call for Marco. His mind is in a fog and the drug’s effect got a hold of him and the world went dark around him. He got his answers and he hates it.


	17. Chapter 17

After a predicament of a day for The PF Squad, The Hawk Unit, and Sparrows. They all agreed in a silence concord that they all need a good stiff drink, warm food in their bellies, a hot bath, and then head off to bed to sleep off any aches they got from the day. Marco was gratified to see Tarma alive and gave his best friend a big brotherly hug that made poor Tarma winch in pain from the rubble burying on top of him but he did return the hug back to his Major and then Tarma fell over when Kevin laughed and gave him a big slap on the back.

“Sorry, lad. We’re glad to see you alive is all,” Kevin smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. “But no worry, though. We’re going to get you a warm meal inside you and the frostiest drink on the house.” Tarma gave him a tired grin before that giant Irishman goes to check on Rasha to see is she’s okay. That man gets so melodramatic when it comes to that woman and already he was shedding a waterfall of tears and holding her hand as the medics work on her injured leg. It became more of who’s comforting who at this point.

Tarma sat still while other medics checked him over and he let out a small laugh. “What’s so funny?” Eri asked him, looking at him off the corner of her eyes. “Remember when you said ‘What? You’re going to get yourself killed!’ before I took off on that motorcycle?” Tarma laughed again and flinched from the bruised ribs. “Ya, what about it?” said Eri now turning her full attention to him. Tarma looked at her and grinned while the medics wrapped bandages around his head, “I’m going to get it engraved next time on a ring for good luck.” Eri punched him on a sore spot on his arm. “Oh, I didn’t punch you that hard.” She huffed.

Marco exhaled and grasped his hands together. He sat on the parked SV-001’s wheels and stared out at the wreckage with the lower part of his face rested on the folded fingers. He already ordered Trevor to take Nadia, Tyra, and Walter with him to fetch Kartu and bring him back to him. Already, the cleanup crew removed a good portion of the wreckage, exposing the now dead Dusk Eater and widen his eyes a bit. Moving his lips without opening his mouth, a thought began to form in his head and he gets up. “Can someone get me a laptop I can borrow?” He called out while fast pacing toward the dragon’s corpse.

Rasha ordered one of the soldiers to go get it for him and she struggled to get up. “Aye, my Irish Rose. Let me help you up.” said Kevin, being as gentle as he is with her and got her on her feet. “Thank you, Kevin. I don’t know what would I’ve done without you.” She smiled sweetly at him and she put her arm around him for support and Kevin walked with her. He offered to carry her but she declined it after they gave her a crutch to use.

They made it to the wreckage and Kevin sat down and helped her into his lap so she can have some comfort. “What are your plans, Major Rossi?” She asked him, watching him prying the chest plate opened and exposing the computer heart inside. “Since we never got the chance to scan The Twilight Seeker’s data and with The Dusk Eater being dead. This our chance to get a good look at who made these beasts and if my hunches are right, that young man Fio and the girls saw on the night of Morden’s meeting is connected with Morden’s real partner.

Rasha laughed, “Marco is playing modern day Sigurd! Slay the beast and eat its heart to gain its wisdom! Except you’re gaining it through a laptop!” Kevin put his arms around Rasha and gave her a hug, “Now you see why I married this Irish rose. Beautiful and smart!” Kevin grinned and kissed her on the head. Marco smiled at them and went back typing away at the laptop. While Marco worked away hacking The Dusk Eater, Tarma came over to join them and overheard Kevin talking with them. Pretty much everyone can with the tone of his voice.

“So you’re married but yet everyone still calls you Major Bilby.” Said Tarma, drinking water from his canteen. Rasha nodded, “It’s more for the job thing, Captain. Everyone still calls me by Kevin’s last name outside of the Battlefield. In it, I prefer to call by my maiden name as a job thing.” Tarma wipes his mouth with his arm, “I see. What did you find, Major?” Tarma asked him and lean in to get a better look at this screen. “I got everything downloaded off of it. Videos, GPS, everything.” Marco replied to his questions and clicked on the video folder.

The Video folders are filled with every file that The Dusk Eater recorded all the way up to its death. Marco scrolls through the files and clicked on some the earliest one. One recording was General Morden inspecting it and grinning like a loon over the dragon and heexit out of the video and looks through the files again. “Major, look! There are videos on the day when it attacked us!” Tarma pointed at it and there were three sets of it too. Marco clicked on the third one and the video came on. He clicks on the slider and carefully moved it to the right and let go when they got to an unfamiliar room and The Dusk Eater’s eyes were fixed on the door.

The door opened and Marco paused and zoomed in on The men, “Just as I thought,” said Marco tapping at the screen. “The young man’s grandfather is none other than Horatio Kronos, the proud owner of Kronos Corp. The name Jonas was driving me nuts since I heard it before and I wanted to make sure that my hunches were right. I’m glad that I read that article when I was in High School.” Marco grinned, feeling proud that his deep thinking finally exposing Morden’s new partner and he felt Tarma’s hand giving him a pat on the shoulder, “You did it, Major!” Tarma cried out and called Fio and Eri over to hear the news.

“Okay, now we need to do is find where Horatio is and hopefully, Morden too and finish this war once and for all.” Marco closed the video folder and clicked on the data folders for the GPS. The computer loaded the coordinates up and Marco reached into his vest pocket for his USB and plug it into the laptop. He moved them just in case and unplug it. Eri and Fio gathered around Marco to see his finding and Marco ready them for the big revealing of Morden and Horatio’s location. The ground rumbled under them and Kevin scooped Rasha up in his arms and yank Marco by the back of his vest when The Twilight Seeker’s head breaks through the surface.

It was pretty wrecked. One eye smashed out, its jaw dislocated again with now a saber-tooth fang snapped off, its one wire horn became undone and sparks shooting out of it. It struggled to pull itself out of the rubble and metal scraped against the bricks and steel poles. Its hind leg is broken and it limped to get a closer look on The Dusk Eater, crushing the laptop with its front paw. Everyone has their gun drawn out and waiting for their Majors to give them the word, even Kevin has his gun drawn out after setting Rasha down. Rasha watched The Drake gently paw at The Dusk Eater’s body and let out a gentle grunt and sat down.

“Cease your fire.” she said with one hand up and The Hawk Unit looked at her puzzled. Even Marco wondered what’s going on inside her head. “Major Bilby, if we don’t act now, that monster will kill us all.” said Marco in a serious tone of voice. Rasha grabbed his shoulder and made him look at The Drake better. “We already killed it, Major Rossi, by letting it kill its friend. It already gave up the will to hunt and fight us. Look! We didn’t destroy it physically, we destroyed it mentally and emotionally.”

The Twilight Seeker gently nudged The Dusk Eater’s lifeless body. Nuzzling its head and letting out small roars at it as if it would wake its friend up. It did not pay any attention toward any of the soldiers and if it did, it had that sorrow distance look in its eyes and turned back to its friends. Marco ordered everyone to put their weapons away too. “I saw it, Marco. The distance look in its eyes, it’s grieving for its friend and I know That monster did try to kill me with its friend but I can’t help but feel sorry for it.” said Tarma, watching The Twilight Seeker laying on top of its friend’s corpse to protect it.

“You’re right, Tarma,” Marco sighed “It doesn’t feel right to kill someone in mourning. It’s like burning down a whole funeral home with mourners in it.” The sky rumbled with thunder and everyone groaned. “Again with the storm?” Eri cried out and Kevin and Rasha ordered everyone back at the base right away. As everyone moved out, Marco radio came to life with Trevor’s voice, “Major, we got a problem back at The Bunker. Those masked people that attacked The Ikari Warriors attacked Kartu.”

Marco picked up the radio and press the button in, “We’re on our way to help out. You get Kartu the medical help he needs right away. Major Rossi out.” Rasha nodded to Marco, giving him a silent okay to go and care for Kartu while The Hawk Unit flees for their Head Quarters. “Warm meals and still drinks for you all when you get back.” Rasha shouted over the rumbling thunder and the pouring rain beginning again.

That stiff drink and a warm meal to Marco and everyone is sounding good right about now.


	18. Chapter 18

“Let’s all agree to never fight dragons again.” Tarma slumped in his chair and all his friends agreed with him. “Gees, Tarma. You looked like you were having fun fighting those monsters.” Rasha teased and grinning with her pipe clenched between her teeth. Kevin found a spare chair and a pillow to prop her broken leg up on while he went to get food for The Squad. The Hawk Unit’s Head Quarters is none other than a once beautiful five-star hotel for rich snobs or anyone with a fat bank account to stay there.

The Mess Hall use to be a fancy restaurant with a piano playing, nice and organized tables with clean table cloths and polished silverware and plush chairs around the fireplace where snobs will drink and talk about snob stuff till the war broke out and got turned into a simple place to eat and drink. The air is filled with high spirit, smoke, and talking among soldiers and higher ups. They even replaced the plush chairs with a pool table that Trevor and Walter got invited to play pool with the other Hawk Unit Soldiers. Walter reveals to all of them that he is one tough pool shark to beat.

Kevin came back with two trays of food and drinks in both hands and set them down on a neighboring table and served out the food and drinks and as promised, Tarma got the frostiest drink on the house. “For the wee sparrows and their falcon friend.” Kevin grinned and served up the girls their food and drink and giving Nadia a bigger slice of the cake for dessert. “And for our Falcons!” The men eyes widen when Kevin gave them a huge portion of food, big enough to feed Kevin alone and Kevin sat down and set a plate down for Rasha and himself. “Eat and grow strong.” he said before he tore into his thick juicy steak.

Rasha adjusted herself to sit up and eat her meal with the rest, “So what’s the update on the boy? Is he going to be okay after that ambush he went through?” Rasha asked them, cutting into her meat and eating it. Marco put down his glass of beer before he even got a sip out of it. “Trevor said that he got nasty scratches on his chest and showing signs that he’s been drugged. Whatever they did to him, Kartu must have given them one Hell of a fight before they beat up and drugged him.” said Marco, now getting a chance to sip his beer.

“If you’re beating yourself up over it, then don’t, Marco. Neither of us saw it coming for Kartu and you did a great job warning us and coming to our rescue when those Rebel rats ambushed us out of the blue.” said Rasha, taking a bite out of her dinner roll. To her, that dinner roll is going to need a lot of butter to make it taste good. Marco sighed, “I know, Rasha but I feel like I should have left one of us behind to keep him safe and he would be sitting here with us with this said stranger you mentioned in on conversation.” Rasha sat in silence while letting the ice in her gently clink against the glass before sipping on the ice cold water and put it down. “Finish your meal first then we’ll go see Kartu and the stranger.”

Rain pattered against the glass panes in a small but yet cozy Hotel room. Kartu been asleep ever since Celestial drugged him and The Doctors worked tirelessly to get Kartu bandaged up and stopped the bleeding from getting worst. The Only thing Kartu had walked away with is another scare on his body. This is not the family reunion that Oguma was expecting. He never blamed Marco for letting this happen and he had trust in Marco and The Squad to give Kartu protection and care under their watchful eyes.

Kartu is back and he can now rest knowing that his grandson has returned to him for all those years of believing that he is dead and his murderer never being found. Oguma got up from his chair and gently stroke his grandson’s hair, his hair is graying faster than they thought and soon he’ll have a full head of white hair like his grandfather. He reached into his pocket and took out Kartu’s stuff dog, Mr. Woof Woof and set it on the nightstand to keep Kartu company. Kartu groaned from the pain he felt from his injury and open his eyes.

He’s stared at the ceiling to regain his eyesight and his mind in a haze from the drug. He felt bed sheets covering his body and looked to the left and he is greeted by a familiar plush face. “Mr. Woof Woof?” he said in a groggy voice and reached out two fingers to pull the plush dog onto his bed by his ear for a better look. He didn’t recall having Mr. Woof Woof with him. As he recalled, they only found two cuffs on his wrists. “I remember the old days when you use to take that stuffed dog everywhere you go. Your mother took great care to make him just for you.” That voice. He turns his attention directly to the source and gasped. “Grandpa?”

The elevator dinged and The Squad got off it, followed by Kevin having to duck a bit to avoid hitting his head on the way out. After he let his wife go through first than himself. He gently picked her up and carried her bridal style to help her keep up with the pace of The Squad. Fio thought it was so sweet to see Kevin giving Rasha extra love and care for her and willing to look after her even long after her leg healed up and ready to walk on her own again. He gently set her down and she thanked him and knocked on the door. There was no reply and Rasha opened the door anyways.

As the door swung opened, they were greeted by the sight of Kartu and Oguma in an embracing hug and let go of each other. The Squad gasped when they who The Hawk Unit’s mysterious stranger was all along. “Oguma!?” they all said in unison “We shouldn’t be surprised since we knew you’re Kartu’s grandfather all along anyways.” Marco scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “You all know each other then? Wow, thanks for saving me the introduction, guys.” Rasha laughed and Kevin laughed along with her. “Oguma showed up out of the blue recently, asking about how he can get to your Squad’s Head Quarters. So I kept him here for awhile until I knew if this guy is legit or not,” said Rasha, rubbing her injured leg, “I guess I can take him off the suspicious list then.”

“I did come all the way to this said half way point of mine to fulfill a quest I had since I was told that Kartu was found alive.” said Oguma, smiling at his grandson and hugging him again. “You want to bring him home with you. That’s why you’re here.” said Tarma, having the same thoughts like everyone else in the room. Oguma nodded, “I never thought that my grandson will come back to me and it was painful for me to presume him dead and his murderer never being caught.” said Oguma, staring at all of them. “Wait, how did he ‘died’ in the first place?” Eri asked with a puzzling look on her face.

Oguma sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. “He was killed while protecting me from my would-be assassin. A man in a goat mask. But that’s all I recall before there was a big flash and they both disappeared on me. We looked everywhere for the both of them but neither of them could be found.” There was that distance look in Oguma’s eyes they can see but it quickly fades away into joy. “But no matter, though. I got my grandson back and I’m ready to take him home first thing in the morning.”

“This is one happy story I’m happy to witness.” Kevin smiled brightly and Rasha smiled a bit. “I agree with you, Meathead.” said Rasha. Kartu yawn and laid back down on his bed. “I’m feeling rather tired and I would like to get some rest right now.” said Kartu, looking up at the ceiling again. Fio stretches her arms out too. “ Kind of think of it. I’m ready to go to sleep myself. I can’t believe it’s dark out already.” Fio was right, the sun has long set and the rain is still pouring outside. “I agree, Fio. I’m ready to fall sleep myself. Tarma, who was leaning against the wall was already asleep.

The girls and the boys got their own separate rooms to share. The girls were giggling and talking to each other. Tyra was doing some exercises while Nadia was snacking on some sweets in her bed. Fio was brushing out Eri’s hair for her and was careful to undo some knots she found to prevent hurting her. When she was done, Eri offered to brush Fio’s hair before they go to bed. There was a knock on the door and Fio told them to come in. The door opened ajar and Kevin poked his head in, “Are the wee Sparrows and Falcon comfy in their nests for the night?” He softly spoke to them. Fio smiled and nodded her head. “We are, Kevin. Thank you for checking up on us.” Kevin smiled sweetly at them. “Okay, little Sparrow. I’m just checking before I got back to my Irish Rose.” He quietly closed the door and left.

The girls got into their own beds and Eri reached over and turn the light off. The room is in instant darkness and they drifted off to sleep pretty quick. Halfway through the night, Fio woke up to a faint light flashing and she sat up and grab her glasses to see what’s going on. At first, she thought it was lighting but it wasn’t and she discovered a time rift in their room. She wants to wake the girls up and show them the time rift but they were all fast asleep. Fio looked at it with curiosity and crept out of bed to get a better look. “Okay, they said that to activate it, I have to touch it is all.” She said in a whisper.

Who knows what it’ll take her and her curiosity got the best of her. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and touch it.


	19. Chapter 19

Fio rubbed her eyes after that blinding light fade away from the scene. She took in the view and think hard about this place she’s in. “Now I know where I am. This must be one of my early missions back when Papa signed me up to join the military.” said Fio. She walked passed the ruined planes and wrecked tanks and she screamed after accidentally falling off an edge of the cliff and landed in a small stream. She groaned and slowly got herself up and rubbed her bottom. “Ow, I forgot about this ditch here.” she said and she hears someone angrily yelling from the top of their lungs and followed it.

Walking down the small tunnel, Fio gasped and saw who was doing all of the screaming. It was her past self, screaming and chewing out Eri and this is when the start of their friendship was shaky and Eri was her cold distance self. “You think I wanted this, Miss Kasamoto? You really think I enjoy getting shot at and having to be saved all the time when I get overwhelmed by Rebels wanting me dead? Do you think I wanted to be here to be nothing but a burden to everyone around me or being treated with kiddy gloves all because my Papa has a strong connection in the military, Ms. Kasamoto?”

Fio have never seen herself this angry before and in the past, she has been mad, yes but when it comes to shouting at someone at the top of their lungs, this is the kind of anger that Fio barely does to anyone. She huffed out of breath and Eri stared out of shock at her. She opened her mouth and Fio interrupted her, “No! I never wanted any of this but I’m here just to carry on The Germi Military Family tradition. All I wanted to do is go to college, graduate, and pursue a career as a Sports Doctor and maybe raise a family too,” She slumped down against the slimy brick wall, not caring if she got her vest dirty.

“But no, I’m here trying to live while getting screamed at by someone who hates my guts for being a weakling and “dead weight” to them.” Past Fio sighed and buried her face into her arms. No matter how many times Fio apologized to Eri about yelling at her in the past, Eri laughs it off and tells her that she’s fine and not to worry about it. She even admits that she deserves it for being so mean to her. But still, Fio feels bad about it. Fio looked away from this scene while holding her arm in shame for this bad event to happen. “I’m sorry.” Past Fio looked at Eri and sniffed her nose, “Wh-What did you say?” she asked her and Eri spoke a little louder.

“I said I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being a bully toward you, blowing up on you, and treating you less of a human being. It’s the way I am, growing up with no family to love and care for you like yours and living on the streets to survive until the Government takes you in and groom you as their personal spy to help them kill people. I guess I’m saying is that I’m jealous of the life you have and how you’re in touch with your parents all the time,” Eri looked away. “In the end, I’m not being human toward you.” Fio wiped her eyes and smiled a bit at her, “It’s okay, I forgive you, Eri.” she said.

Fio walked toward them to get a better look at her past self and Eri and sat down on the small wooden dock with them. She remembers all of this now. They got done with their mission and they were waiting for Marco and Tarma to arrive to pick them up. So they hid inside a tunnel made for ships and submarine to come and go as they please and found a small wooden dock for them to sit on and waited. 

Past Fio opened her bag up and took out some sandwiches she made and Eri opened her bag and discovered a torn hole and all of her ration gone. She blamed it on The Rebel who tried to stab her with a knife and missed when she moved out of the way and shot him. She threw the bag on the ground out disgust and sat still, listening to her stomach gurgling out of hunger. Fio took one of her sandwiches and offered Eri one and smiled.

“I don’t get you, Germi. First, you’re screaming at me and now you’re offering me your food.” she said staring at her. “I’m not a monster like Allen O'Neil or Morden, Eri and it would be greedy of me to be sitting here, eating my food while you’re sitting here starving. Unless you want to wonder out there and see if you can catch a fish with your bare hands.” Fio giggled at the fishing part. Eri, for the first time to Fio, smiled a bit at her and accepted her offer. “Thanks, Germi I mean Fio.” she said and took a bite out of it. Eri couldn’t believe it, this is the best sandwich she ever ate in her whole life. Freshly baked bread with even amount of sauce spread on both top and bottom, the lettuce was cool and crisp, and the meat isn’t dry and seasoned for flavored and cheese wasn’t too gooey to eat either.

She looked over at Past Fio who was already offering her a cup of tea to drink with the sandwich and was curious to see how that would taste and the tea was great. Not too sweet, not too bland either. It was just right enough to taste the fruits and herbs in it. “I didn’t know you can cook so well.” said Eri, savoring the flavor of the food. Past Fio smiled sweetly at her, “My Mama use to teach me how to cook in case I was out on my own. She taught me how to bake cakes and do embroidery too. Which means I can sew too.”

Eri swallowed, “You won’t mind sewing up the hole in my bag, would you?” Eri asked her, being polite as best as she can to Fio. Past Fio nodded and already she got the traveling sewing kit out of her bag and took Eri’s bag and went to work. Eri ate her food in silence and kept looking over at Fio. How could someone be this nice to her after all the thing she said and done to her in the past? She did have every right to yell at her for it. Fio looked at her past self and see the fine sewing craftsmanship she has done on that bag. Pulling the thread and making the hole close up nice and tight and then cutting the thread with her knife.

“Here you go, Eri.” Past Fio smiled at her and handed the bag back. Eri finished her food and took the bag back from her to look at it. You could barely tell if there was a hole in it or not by Past Fio’s skills. Eri looked up, smiled a bit and put her bag away. “Thanks, Fio. I better get used to your kindness from now on.” Eri said and Past Fio giggled, “Don’t worry about it, Eri. I’m just helping out someone in need.” Fio removed a small tear from her eyes. It was funny how they went from bickering and Fio finally standing up for herself to becoming fastest friends with the toughest woman around. Then make friends with another tough gal name Leona. For some reason, Fio is the kind of person you go to get people to open up, no matter how tough their shell is on them.

“So…What else can you do?” Eri asked her out of curiosity and Past Fio thinks, “Well, I know some different kind of medicines like acupuncture as an example and I can do ballroom dancing. I know it’s not impressive to brag about, to be honest.” Past Fio laughed nervously. Eri raises a brow, “How does ballroom dancing work?” Eri asked “It’s where people get together and dance to a lot of beautiful music. Here, I’ll show you a sample.”

Past Fio got up and help Eri to her feet. Fio didn’t know if she wanted to watch or not since she recalled what happened here. She chose to cover her eyes out of embarrassment, not because of them dancing but it’s for a different reason. Past Fio showed Eri where the Dancer’s hands are positioned and told Eri where to take a step. Past Fio leads the dance to let Eri get an idea on how this works and soon she caught on following every step they took. “Yes, just like that.” Past Fio smiled and she can see Eri enjoying herself in their practice.

Then the embarrassing part happened. “I didn’t know you were giving out dance lesson, Ms. Germi.” Tarma teased and the girls stopped in their tracks and quickly break away from each other. “I got to admit, you two were dancing wonderfully together.” Marco laughed, shining the flashlight on them. The girls were blushing like crazy and looking away out of embarrassment. Marco moved the flashlight away from them. “But, seriously. We’re glad to see both of you alive and well. Come on, let’s get you girls home for the night.” Past Fio and Eri quietly nodded their heads and followed the boys back to the ship. “Fio, thanks for the sandwich. I owe you one.” Eri whispered to her. “You’re welcome, Eri and don’t worry about it.” Tarma up ahead of them was replicating their dance in the most amusing way possible and Marco gave him a friendly push to make him stop.

Fio peaked over the tips of her fingers and sighed with relief. “Why did The Time Rift do that to me?” she said it out loud. The Time Rift around her began to fade away into the light and Fio shield her eyes again. When the light faded away, she was back in their room and the girls were still asleep in her bed. She heard someone in the bathroom and quickly crawled back into bed to pretend to be asleep. It was Eri, she sleepily rubbed her eyes and yawned and went back to her bed. She pulled the covers over herself and got herself comfortable.

“Fio?” she said in a whisper and Fio rolled over in her bed to face her, “Yes, Eri?” She whispered back. Eri was quiet for a bit and she has a weary smiled on her face, “Thanks for being my best friend. I don’t know what I would have done without you being like a sister to me.” and Fio softly smiled at her. “Same to you, Eri. I would be dead by now without your help.” Eri yawned and rolled to her side, “Good night, Fio.” she said in a sleepy voice. “Good night, Eri. Sweet dreams.” Fio replied back.

It was barely crack of dawn when Ferdinand ran down the hallway and pounded his fist on The Major’s door and having her husband answer it for her. Kevin was scratching his chest and looked down at the small man, “Oye, lad. You’re so loud that you could wake up the dead.” The Irishman spoke. “This is important, Commandant Tarbh. You better wake up The Majors right away.” Ferdinand freaking out. Marco stepped out of his room while putting on his shirt, “What’s going on now that needs my attention?” Marco said, half asleep.

“We got a huge problem, Sir, and Ma'am. Last night, someone broke into the base and kidnapped Mr. Oguma and his grandson.”


	20. Chapter 20

“Looks like your farm animals are back, Major Rossi.” said Rasha, reviewing any security footage of last night kidnapping. The squads are in The Hawk Unit’s briefing room that use to be an old Ballroom that is now filled with computers, radars, and communication radios for The Hawk Unit to keep in touch with each other and with Sparrows and The PF Squad. Ferdinand was ordered to speed up the video up to the time of the kidnapping. But it was nothing but futile when Jonas’s face appeared in front of the camera with his now blood smeared goat mask. He raised a finger with a runkavle glowing on his finger and the camera footage reset back to the beginning. No clues on how they got in or how they got Kartu and Oguma out without being spotted.

“According to the reports, my men said these masked men and a woman used some kind of spell to freeze them in place and they couldn’t move till they were gone. They acted like as if they done these multiple times before.” said Rasha, looking over the report while smoking her pipe. Marco glanced them over. “They have done it before and The Ikari Warriors will swear it up and down about it too. They too have encountered these mask men and got frozen in time by them,” Marco puts the reports back on the table and looks back at the paused image of Jonas, “We got their GPS location and we’ll find them and Morden too.”

Marco held a meeting with the rest of The Squad to discuss what their next move will be and they agreed to split up once again. Trevor will take Nadia, Walter, and Tyra and stay behind to give The Hawk Unit any help they need in case The Rebel and The Twilight Seeker come back to fight them again while Marco and the rest go after Kartu and Oguma. Rasha and Kevin bid good-bye to The Squad and thanks them for helping them out and providing them any transportation they needed and they took a jeep to travel to their destination. Tarma did the driving and Marco sat in the front while Fio and Eri sat in the back. Arms folded, Marco sat back and watch the scenery go by.

Ravens were gathering in a dead tree nearby, their eyes watching the jeep driving by as if they’re expecting them to swerve and all die in a car crash. It was unsettling for Marco no thanks to his current dream he had with those birds gazing down at him and watching his every move and dread about it coming true. “I’ll be so glad for this mission to be done and over with already,” said Tarma “I’m planning to see my parents when they give us the next day off. My mom told me they’re going to move to the city and sell my grandfather’s house.”

“Are you going to plan to buy it from them?” Fio asked him and Tarma shook his head, “I would love to if we don’t have this war going on right now. I would spend a lot of time giving it a fresh coat of paint and fix anything that is broke unless my dad took care of it. Then it’ll be just painting. Also, I thought about getting a cat like Patches to live with me.” Eri quietly smiled at the thought of Tarma lazing about on the front porch with a soft little kitty on his lap to gently stroke while it sleeps. The whole road rumbled and Tarma slammed on the brakes hard enough that it almost threw everyone out of their seats.

“What the Hell was that?” said Marco and they all got out of the Jeep to check. Behind them is a huge pile of rocks and blown up trees thrown around and Eri walked up to inspect the damage. “This no ordinarily rocks slide. Someone planted a bomb and set it off the minute we drove by. They were either aiming to kill us and missed or they were planning to block the road on us and failed.” Tarma shrugged, “I guess we keep going where we’re heading and call for a ride later.”

“Oh no, Mr. Tarmicle Roving The Third. You’ll be calling for that ride right now.” said an elderly voice. They turned around and standing before them is Horatio Kronos and his grandson, Jonas. The young man has left his mask behind and showing his face to them for the first time. “Horatio Kronos. So we finally meet.” said Marco, folding his arms. Horatio smiled and let out a small chuckle, “It was bound to happen sooner or later, Marchrius Dennis Rossi. Same with you, Eri Kasamoto and Fiolina Germi or by your cute nickname by everyone, Fio.”

“Okay, this is freaking me out now. How do you know all of our names without asking? It’s no doubt that General Morden told you about all of us when you two first met.” Tarma sneered at him and Horatio was finding this to be amusing. “Oh no, Tarmicle or should I say, Tarma. I have known all about you humans long before a grieving man declared war on the world who turned its back on him and took his son away. Believe me, you all leaving right now will be spared from the trouble you’re about to go through to get Kartu and that parasite everyone calls Oguma.”

“We’re not going anywhere until we know they’re rescued and brought home.” Fio shouted at him and shook his head and sigh, “Young lady, you and your friends don’t understand why we have to kidnap them. The timeline is unstable and it’s going to collapse and take all life on earth with it. If you care about all life on this planet, you call for that ride and go back and forget about Kartu and Oguma.”

Marco glared at him, “Why are you going through all of this trouble just for one guy?” Marco asked them. Horatio looked Marco in the eyes and looked at his grandson and back at Marco. “Because that man is the missing source to fix the broken timeline and without him, we’re all going to die.” Horatio replied. Marco opened his mouth and they heard tanks, Rebels moving in and loading and pointing their guns at them, and the growing sound of an engine of a transport copter heading toward them. It touched down and the blades slowly stopped. The door opened and stepping out was General Morden follow by Allen O'Neil and his son.

Marco and The Squad reach for their guns but stopped when Allen O'Neil and his son drew close with more soldiers, surrounding them in a ring of guns. Tarma can feel the barrel of Allen O'Neil’s gun poking at his skull and laughing menacingly at him. “Trap as the rats you all are.” He mocked them. They held their hands up in the air in a sign of surrendering. Marco narrowing his eyes at Morden while he passes them by, his trigger finger is itching to put a bullet in that man’s skull. Horatio approaches him. “General Morden. What a nice sur-” Morden drew his gun out and shot Horatio where he stands.

“Grandfather!” Jonas ran to his wounded grandfather’s side and more Rebels moved in, pointed their guns at him and Horatio. “So, Horatio Kronos. You think you can play me like a fiddle till you broke all the strings on it? You’re not the only one who can play someone like a sucker.” He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small stone. “How did you steal my Grandfather’s stone?” Jonas shouted out of rage and ready to attack him but he can’t with the guns pointing at him. General Morden had that twisted smile on his face.

“It’s easy, you little brat. After the said meeting with your grandfather, I thought I recognize that pretty stone anywhere and had my researcher dig up some information and after I learned that anyone who touches it can see into the future and so I have one of my spies, disguised as a janitor go into your office and steal it for me. When I touched that stone, I saw how your old geezer was going to backstab me and I thought I do the stabbing, or should I say, the shooting first.” Morden burst out into a morbid laugh.

Marco clenched his fists and took off running. “You son of a-” His gun raised, finger on the trigger and gunshots rang through the air and Fio screamed out Marco’s name. Tears ran from her eyes and Tarma was shouting Marco’s name. General Morden’s gun was smoking and Marco laid on the ground in agonizing pain. Bullet wounds scattered all over his chest but missing all of his vital organs and veins. His shirt is soaking up his blood and he pulled himself toward his gun while winching in pain to grab it.

General Morden coldly strolls up to Marco and kicked the gun away and then presses the heel of his boot on the bullet wounds on his shoulder, making Marco crying out in pain. It was music to his ears and torture to his enemy. “Please stop! You’re making his pain worse!” Fio cried out but General Morden ignored her and crouched down and held Marco’s face in one hand. “I finally clipped your wings, Rossi,” The General with a smug expression on his face. “I can not wait to display your corpse on a plaque to show the whole world how easy it was to take their mighty warrior down.”

Marco breathing was heavy, he’s feeling light headed and he could barely move. His vision was giving out on him and he groaned in pain. “But, I could spare you and your friends’ pathetic lives if you say one little thing I want to hear coming out of your mouth, Rossi. All I want you to say is ‘You win, General Morden. We surrender.’ Six easy little words and we’ll get you the medical help you need.”

Tarma does not like where this is going. He knows the Major well. He would rather die than be defeat by the hands of that monster. “Fio, I want you to come over here. I don’t want you to see what he might do next to him.” Fio was sobbing and nodded. She moved toward him and Tarma slowly and carefully while glaring at Allen O'Neil and his son put an arm around Fio and hid her face against his chest. The last thing Marco wants is Fio seeing him being killed by General Morden. It’s too much for her to see him getting tortured right now.

Marco struggled for breath and gathered up what breathe he got. “You….You…” General Morden motioned with his hand while smirking at him to spit out. “You…You’re going to be buried six feet under, Morden.” Marco spat blood in his face and The General returned the favor by landing a blowing kick into Marco’s side and then grabbing him by his hair and slamming him against a nearby tank. Gun pointed at Marco’s head and ready to be shot off. “So this is how you’re going to play it, Rossi? Be shot like some mangy animal? I shot wounded animals who gave me a better fight than this!”

Marco can feel his baleful gaze upon him and smirk, “Shooting a man with his back turned. You really are a sniveling coward.” General Morden’s eye twitch. “At least I’m sparing you from watching me murder your friends, Rossi. Good riddance to you, you Regular Military Puppet!” What could Tarma do to save his friend’s life from this psychopath’s wrath? If he dares to move to save him, they would all be gunned down in an instant. With a morbid grin, General Morden rested his finger on the trigger.

There was no bang, no dead body, and no final victory for General Morden. A blur passed them by and General Morden face of joy turned to shock as he witnesses his gun falling into pieces and clinking on the ground and on top of each other. Standing behind him laughing was Celestial, glove claws out and ready to strike again. General Morden expression changed to terror once the chaos is set in motion. Bronco came charging in, catching Allen O'Neil off guard with a punch to the face. Hellhound with his fiery punch not only knocking out Allen O'Neil’s son but burning off half of his beard. Jonas moved out of the way when Poe came swooping in with her knife, slitting the throats of two Rebel soldiers.

This was their chance to escape from The Rebels’ grasp and they shot the soldiers down and moved quickly toward Marco after General Morden dropped him. “Major, can you hear us?” Tarma carefully rolled him on his back. He moans and fought to keep his eyes open. “T-Tarma, what happened?” he weakly asked him. “We’re going to retreat is what’s going to happen.” he replied. General Morden screamed.

The Squad turned their attention toward Horatio steadily getting himself off the ground and brushing the dirt off of his jacket. He turned his hateful eyes to Morden and snap his fingers to summon his henchmen over and beckon his grandson to his side. His blood wasn’t red, it was black and glittering like the night sky.

“I knew I should have killed you when you set foot into my office.” Horatio snarled. Blue auras glowed around them and one by one, they revealed their true forms, Grims. Standing in Horatio’s spot is a black goat and he wore a half broken hourglass around his neck and surrounding him is a Horse, Black Dog, Raven, Rooster, and Jonas in his goat form too. “Grims…” Marco weakly whispers. “They were all Grims all this long.” Marco passed out from his injury and they went to work to help him.

General Morden coward before them. Terrified of these anthropomorphic Grims and Horatio approaches him, his red eyes burning into The General’s darkened soul. “From studying you humans and how you think, act, and feel. I learned something that you all fear more than death. The painful misery that you’re forced to live with till the day you die.” General Morden whimpered, scared to find out what he means. Horatio summoned a band of runkavle around his hands and he slapped his hands together on each side of General Morden’s head and stepped back and waited.

Confused at first for what he did and all of the sudden The Squad witness in fright as they watched General Morden grabbing at his face, screaming about his eye gone missing and crying out his son’s name and stumbling in his steps like his legs stopped working. “What did you do to him?” Eri shouted, locking her eyes on the frantic man, screaming for help and calling for his son. Horatio turned and looked at them, “I’m making him relive the day when his son died in that terrorist bombing.”

Marco breathing grew worst and he steps forward and checks on him, “I never wanted this to happen. All I wanted is to do my job with little to no bloodshed.” Fio was all out of medicine and bandages and Horatio and snapped his fingers again and all five of them approach. “Poe, I need you to give Mr. Rossi some medicine to help him sleep and ease the pain, Bronco, I want you and Hellhound to carry him to the truck we got parked not far from us, and Poe and Celestial, I want you to escort his friends and Jonas. If any of them try to fight us. Freeze them.”


	21. Chapter 21

The medicine left a bitter aftertaste in Marco’s mouth but the pain subsided and his mind begged him to go to sleep but the consciousness within roared at him to stay awake and help his friends and confront Horatio once and for all. No matter how hard Marco tried to get up, the strong effect of the medicine that Poe gave him also made his body go limp as if he was dead. He was still breathing and his heart is pumping.

Before he gave into his mind’s desire, He was still aware of his surrounding and Bronco picking up his torso part of his body up and Hellhound grabbing his legs. Fio pleading them to be careful with him echoed in his head and he can see Horatio looking back and ordering them to stop. The now goat form of Horatio stepped toward him and Marco can see his face perfectly clear and The Old Man, with one finger extended and Tarma demanding them to tell them what he is doing to his friend. “Now then, Mr. Rossi. You won’t be needing this on you anymore.” He tapped Marco’s forehead and he pulled away to reveal a Runkavle and dissolved it.

“Whoever put it on you while pretending to be me in your first dream must have a hidden agenda in all of this.” Horatio stepped away and the world grew dark around him and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. When Marco woke up the first time, they were in a truck with The Grims watching them. Fio held Marco’s hand as if it was the only comfort she can give him while he slept. He hears Tarma making threats toward them and Hellhound laughing it off like it was nothing and even daring Tarma to take him on right now. His vision blurred and he drifted off to sleep again.

When Marco woke up the second time, he can see lifeless trees around them and they’re walking on foot now. His friends are now are by his side, keeping a close eye on him to make sure he’s okay. He assumed that they convinced The Grims to allow them to walk with him. He looks ahead but Hellhound’s back is blocking the view and he couldn’t tell if he was seeing things or they truly are walking into a church like mansion. Marco grew weak and slept again.

He didn’t know how long he was out and he woke up on an operating table. Machines hissed and beeped and a lanky looking man with messy black hair in a lab coat and blood-stained operating apron looked over him. “Hello, Mr. Rossi. My name is Doctor Cawfield and I’ll be operating on you to get those nasty bullets out. Now don’t worry, one of your friends was kind enough to donate blood to make sure that you make it through this operation.” He put on his mask and Marco struggled to get off the operating table but Cawfield pinned him down quickly and fought with him, “Quickly, nurse! Give him the anesthetic! I can’t hold down forever!”

The Nurse rushed in and placed the mask over Marco’s face and turned the gas on. His fighting grew feeble and his grip on the doctor’s arms loosen and Marco’s speech slurred when he tried to demand to know where Tarma and The Girls were and he passed out. Cawfield sighed with relief. “Now then, let’s begin the operation, nurse.”

“How are you feeling, Fio?” Eri asked her and poured a glass of water for her to drink. “I feel dizzy. I let them take all the blood they needed to help Marco out.” Fio said a bit weakly and sip her water. Tarma leaned against the wall and kept glancing at the door and then back at Fio and Eri. Never in their lives have they encountered an enemy that would put them in a room with comfortable beds and furniture rather than a prison cell with rats or water dripping from the walls or ceiling.

The floor is polished wood with an exotic Persian rug over it and old masters hung on the walls with great care, documenting all of the past events, good and bad alike of mankind. The bed posts were carved to have wooden decorations of goats, horses, roosters, and ravens. There was a small desk and chair that Tarma already checked for keys or lockpicks for Eri to use but no luck. Tarma did spot a painting that peaked his curiosity and he walked toward it. It was a painting of a one story building out in the forest with a dirt road path leading to it and people surrounding the building either were talking or reading books.

He rubs his chin and rattled his brain over where did he saw that building before and it dawned on him, this is the same building they spent the night in after the dam broke and Marco got hit in the head by Allen O'Neil’s gun. “I remember that place when it was new, full of the knowledge of the past, and working together to make a brighter future.” said Horatio. All three of them turned their attention toward the door and stepping into the room is Horatio back in his human form. Bronco stepped into the room with him to keep an eye Eri and Tarma in case they threaten to do bodily harm to Horatio

“Where is Marco and what have you done to Oguma and Kartu?” Tarma got up close and personal to Horatio’s face. Bronco stepped in and shoves Tarma hard enough to make him stumble backward and almost tripping over himself. It got Eri on her feet, ready to help Tarma out if they have to fight. Horatio raised a hand to make Bronco stop before he got physical with Tarma and lower it, “Your friend is doing fine and he’s under the care of my best doctors and as for Kartu and Oguma, Oguma you’ll be seeing again but I’m afraid this will be the last that you’ll be seeing Kartu.”

“The last we’ll be seeing him? What are you going to do with him?” Fio weakly sat herself up to see them better. “Oh, my dear. You see, we need him to help fix the timeline before the next storm kills us all. By fixing it as in, going back to the day he was supposed to die.” Horatio walked toward the window that looks out to the courtyard. “The same storms that have been opening Time Rifts all over the places no doubt.” said Tarma and folding his arms.

“You are correct about The Time Rifts, Mr. Roving,” Horatio sighed, “But I don’t know if all of you would understand if I go into full detail about why we need Kartu and what brought him from the past to our current timeline. Knowing how stubborn humans can be and you’ll be wasting time trying to spare him and fix time and space from collapsing on itself at the same time. All I can say is this, we had a plan to rid Oguma but there was a slight error we neglected to look into more.”

Tarma was getting tired of these Grims and their riddles they kept spewing out. He’s not going to waste time listening to these rambles of an old man who has them locked up here while Marco is somewhere else in this building, alone and fighting for his life. He may not be as smart as his friend but he does know how to catch on pretty quick to some things, “I take it that The Grims and The Tuaha de Dunans have a strong hatred for each other to the point of wanting to kill each other.”

Horatio turned around in a blink of an eye. His calm expression turned to rage, “Oh and you know why too, Mr. Roving since you and your friends were there on that dreadful day when Oguma revealed it all to you and how they’re nothing but a parasitic race that has no care for all living things but themselves and all for what? To build a perfect history while committing acts of genocide after genocide, seeing all living things as nothing but data and numbers. We struggled to preserve the past to make way a better future for us all and have it all destroyed for their selfish gain.”

Horatio was breathing heavily and straighten himself back up. “Once your friends are all better, you are to leave immediately and never come back here again. Forget about Kartu, he’s not worth it anymore and he’s nothing but a burden to you all. You got a war to end and that’s all you need to worry about right now. Now if you excuse me, I got important work to do.” He strolled out of the room with Bronco but yet he was stopped by Poe running up to him and using sign language to talk to him.

Horatio replied in hands and the way their hands were moving, the conversation looked urgent and Poe took back where she came from and Horatio looks at Bronco, “I want you to keep this door locked and guarded at all cost, Bronco. I need to take care of something first before we move on with our plans.” “Yes, sir.” Bronco replied and they slammed the door shut and lock it. If Marco was in the room with them right now, he would be drawing up plans right away and getting them out of that room and looking for Kartu and Oguma in no time.

Tarma storm around the room, stopping to think between steps and then walking around again to think of a way to escape the room. They could go out the window and tie the bed sheets together to make a long rope and Fio is getting better from the blood donation she did earlier for Marco’s surgery but the risk factor is still high due to the unknown of what could be in the other rooms below them and they got no weapons on them after Horatio ordered his men to take them away. Taking on Bronco is out of the question cause he’s a huge man and even which three people ganging up on him they’ll still lose to his brute strength.

Eri looked after Fio and spoke without looking at Tarma, “You can stop thinking of a way to escape and calm down. He’s coming for us right now.” she said and helped Fio to sit up. “Who coming to help us, Eri?” Tarma asked her with a confused expression. Eri smirked, “I can read and do sign language. One of the things they taught me back in my old government days and those Grims forgot about it while they were talking.” Eri let out a small laugh.

“Well, what did they say?” said Tarma, surprise to learn something new about Eri and she playfully smiled at him, “According to the lady he was talking to before he left in a hurry, Marco escaped from his room after lying to a nurse to get him some more medicine and now he’s on his way to help us.”


	22. Chapter 22

“Careful now. He has gotten out of surgery and I don’t want any of those stitches popping out on my watch.”

Marco roused from his sleep and hope for the last time without being drugged. The side effect of the anesthesia hit him hard in his stomach and he laid in his bed, focusing on ridding of this feeling of nauseousness and it didn’t help that his throat is sore and his mouth is dry. He flinched while trying to get up in his bed and inspect the bandages wrapped around his chest. The Doctor and nurse did a professional job on wrapping his chest up with gauze and medical tape and he peeled a corner off carefully to see the tight stitches Dr. Cawfield made on him during surgery.

“What are you doing? Don’t mess with your stitches.” said The Nurse who just stepped into the room to check up on him. Marco put the corner back where it was and flatten out the tape of any wrinkles he made with it. The Nurse is in her teen years with brown hair held back with the hair clips with bright eyes. She set the tray on the table and went to Marco’s bedside to help him with his bandages and sighed, “No matter, Mr. Rossi. We were going to change your bandages anyways and put cleans one on.”

“What did they do to Tarma, Fio, and Eri? They better not harm my friends or They’ll be Hell to pay.” said Marco, throwing the covers back but for a small teenage woman, The Nurse pushed him right back into his bed with no problem. It’s either she’s a horse Grim or the loss of blood from earlier have made him too weak to resist a simple push. “They’re fine, sir. Master Horatio will never harm you or your friends. I’m here to check on your health before reporting back to Dr. Cawfield.” This is Marco’s chance to escape, The Nurse did look like the type of person to trick easily. “Nurse, I’m in a lot of pain. Do you have any pain pills I can take?” He groaned and rubbed his chest lightly.

“Right away, Mr. Rossi. I’ll get your pills, so please lay back down and relax.” Marco did as he was told. He swung his legs back onto his bed and rest his back against the pillows and watched The Nurse smiled at him and struggled to open the medicine bottle. “Here, let me help you.” He took the bottle from her and unscrew the cap and hand the bottle back. The young lady was blushing and shyly said thank you to him and took out two pills for him. She then poured him a glass of ice cold water and handed them both to him. Marco took the pills without question and put the pills in his mouth and drank the water all at once.

“There, that wasn’t so bad,” she smiled “I’m Nurse Echo and I’m your Mare Grim nurse for the day. Dr.Cawfield will be in soon to check up on you and your progress. If you need me, press the button on your nightstand and I’ll be here in a jiffy.” Marco smiled at her, “Thanks, Nurse Echo. I think I’ll rest for now.” he said, pulling the sheets over and closing his eyes. The Nurse took the bottle and tray and left Marco alone to rest. Once the door closed shut, Marco opened his eyes and tossed the bed sheet to the side and spit the pills out of his mouth and into his hands.

He discarded them into a nearby waste basket and looked around the room for a way to escape from this room without Nurse Echo spotting him. He looked out the window, it was no good with The Twilight Seeker out in the courtyard patrolling the place with its glowing eyes surveying the place and prowling like a hungry cat. Going out the door is out of the question too. Marco sat down on his bed and thinks. At least they left his vest and backpack in here and a new white shirt to wear. He got both of those on and now to think of a way to escape. “What a cliche way to escape.” Marco said to himself and he pried the air vent cover off and slide it to the side quietly and got down on his hands and knees.

Escaping the room was no problem but now finding where his friends are is another task he faces. They can be anywhere in this mansion and Marco better think of a way to get to them and fast. He stops when he hears footsteps and peak through the vents and listen in on any conversations around him and moves on when they hold no vital information he’s seeking. Moving through the air duct, Marco yelled and fell through a rusted old vent cover and hit the floor. He groaned and groped around the darkness for anything to help him get up and found a table and pull himself up on his feet. The table felt dusty and his fingers were coated with a layer of it and he brushed it off on his pants.

Carefully moving around the dark room and no light coming from the space between the door and floor, Marco assumes it is safe to turn the light on and get a better look of the room he’s in. He found a switch by the door and flips it on. The Lightbulb flickered from age and illuminated the whole room for Marco to see. Dust floated around the lightbulb and Marco walked around the room. The table was littered with faded yellow papers but he can still read the reports and plan with no problems. In the center of the table, Marco recognizes the tower all too perfectly.

It was the same one that Oguma rose a long time ago and helped destroy to the ground to save their world from being wiped out. Notes were scribbled all over the map and drawings of The Dusk Eater and The Twilight Seeker and where would they attack. On the table is a knife coated with dry blood that Marco inspected without wanting to cut himself on the sharp blade and he picked up notes and read them carefully.

_“Month fifth, Day XX Year XXXX_

_Assassination plot failed and Kewald Oguma is still alive thanks to his grandson sparing him and on the move to destroy the world. Jonas Kronos killed the wrong target and out of panic, used a forbidden runekavle to send Kartu Oguma into The Time Rift toward the future. Jonas Kronos refused to say why he sent The Tuaha de Dunan into The Time Rift._

_I must have words with my grandson for the sake of our world and all living things on it. Even if I have to rip open a Time Rift to get to the bottom of this chaotic mess.”_

So this is what is all about and why The Grims are so persistent to get Kartu and using General Morden to push their agenda through. Marco was putting the pieces together and now he knows why they been calling Kartu The Missing Source. To Marco, all this is is a grandfather fixing a massive error caused by two young boys. One who they claimed had died protecting his grandfather while the other was sent to kill Oguma. Kartu isn’t suppose to be alive, he’s supposed to be dead from a mistake caused by Jonas.

He folded the paper up to show to The Squad later and tuck it away in his pants pocket for safe keeping. Taking a last look around the room, Marco spotted a table out of the normal. It was new, no dust has gathered on it, and it was littered with fresh papers, and a bulletin board was hung above it, already covered with pictures and notes.

He shuffled through papers and photos and held one picture up of himself to the light. He saw some writing on the back of the picture and turned it over to see notes about sabotaging their missions and the same runekavle that Horatio removed from him earlier. Something is up and Marco got a bad feeling that someone got bigger plans of their own and Horatio might not know about it to stop it.

Marco heard someone coming and flip the light off and climb back up into the air duct and crawled away. He wasn’t sure if they checked the room but he wasn’t going to stick around and see who it is and kept going forward. He checked rooms and hallways and paused again when he saw Horatio hurrying down the hallway with Poe and leaned to the side to see Bronco guarding the door. He’s can feel it, he’s getting close and he moved quietly as he can to their room and looked through the air duct. There they are, all three of them safe and sound and Fio sitting up on the bed.

Marco reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin he found one day while he out doing errands for himself. He held the coin in his fingers and started doing morse code against the vent’s cover. Tarma heard it and held his hand up to Eri and Fio to stay quiet and crept toward the vent cover and inspect it over on how to open it. Marco slipped the coin through the vent cover and Tarma grabbed it to unscrew the bolts and remove the cover. Marco pulled himself through and Tarma helped him up.

“Major, boy we’re glad to see you. We were just talking about how we would escape this room if you were with us right now.” Tarma grinned at him and Marco smiled back. “Here I am to help out with the brainstorming. On my way here, I found their old meeting room and discovered why they want Kartu.” Marco took the paper out and it got passed around by The Squad and Marco folded it back up. Tarma frowned and shook his head, “Horatio was nothing but riddles to us but thanks for showing us that piece of paper and giving us an idea on what’s going on.”

“That’s not the full story.” Marco said with concern in his voice and they looked at him with worry and puzzlement, “What are you talking about, Marco? What else is going on that we don’t know?” Marco took a deep breath and massage his chest from the pain coming back, “Someone else is making plans behind Horatio’s back and for some reason, I was a tiny piece of their plan. I even recognize the symbol that Horatio removed off of me when they carried us off to here.” They thought for awhile and then they heard The Twilight Seeker roaring and shooting beams of lightning from its mouth and wheel squealing and missiles being shot off.

Eri ran toward the window and saw a Slug tank running the beast in circles while three small figures fought it and The Grims off. “It’s Trevor and he brought the rest to rescue us.” She reported and they heard loud thumping, the wall shaking hard enough to knock paintings off their nails, and muffled talking from the other side. Then there was a loud thud and the rattling of the door knob. “It’s locked. Time to kick it down, Clark.” With a mighty force of Clark’s kicking, not only did he tore the door off its hinges, but he shattered it in two.

“Hello, PF Squad and Sparrow. It’s nice to see you all again.” Leona grinned while holding gun holsters, knives, and bags of grenades in each hand.


	23. Chapter 23

Armed and ready to go, The Ikari Warriors filled Marco and The Squad in on what’s going on and how they found them in Horatio’s mansion. The small story goes that after the train robbery, Heidern ordered them to investigate who the train robbers were and why they were helping General Morden out. Their investigation leads them to a Rebel Base where a commander panic and blurted out everything they needed to know about Morden and The Train Robbers they fought against. With this vital clue, they traveled to Ireland and met up with The Hawk Unit and The remaining members of The PF Squad and Sparrow.

“Rasha told us everything we wanted to know and gave us a copy of the GPS location. We knew you were all in trouble after Whip found a blood stain on the ground and footprints scattered everywhere.” said Ralf, gunning down some guards and punching another for getting near. “Thanks for finding us and giving us weapons, they took everything from us when we got here. I’m afraid someone here got bigger plans than just simply returning Kartu to the past.” said Marco, gunning down two more guards.

“Backup! Backup! Backup! Backup!” Walter frantically yelling and hitting the side of The Slug Tank to alert Nadia of the incoming paw coming down on them. She put The Slug Tank in reverse just in the nick time when it came crashing down hard and The Twilight Seeker roared and shot another beam of lightning at them. Trevor and Tyra cover for each other as they gun down more Grims coming to stop them. Celestial came charging at them with claws out and slashing at Trevor. He weaved and dodge his attacks and fought back with his knife in hand and knives hidden in his boots. “Knives hidden in boots? Why didn’t I think of that?” Celestial laughed and reveal his true form of a Rooster Grim.

If the claws weren’t bad enough, Trevor has Celestial’s beak to defend against and Tyra he has to help protect. That became more of a problem when Poe joined in the fight and took on Tyra in her Raven Grim form. “I got this, Trevor. You focus on your battle.” Tyra shouted over the commotion of the fighting and reflected Poe’s knife with hers. Blades clashed against each other and Poe opened her beak to grab Tyra’s wrist. She retaliated by shoving her hand on her throat and struggled to push back against her knife with hers. Poe got the upper hand by swooping her leg and knocking Tyra down to the ground and raised her knife above her.

Tyra gasped and did a recovering roll and the knife missed and plunged itself into the dirt. Tyra fought back and the air is filled with the sound of metal clanging against each other. Walter is seeing these fights going on and banged his fist against The Slug Tank. “It’s just you and me against this thunderous lizard, mate.” said Walter, both of them taking aim at The Twilight Seeker and shooting away. “Try to do as much damage as you can on its chest plate, I’ll try to shoot a missile right into its heart.” Nadia reply over Walter’s radio.

Walter nodded. “Maybe few grenades to the chest will do the trick.” He said, switching weapons on hand and screamed when The Twilight Seeker’s tail came on top of them. “Walter! Nadia!” Trevor shouted out of shock and got badly scratched up by Celestial. Out of rage and concern for his friends, Trevor fought back and kept punching and kicking Celestial, feathers were flying all over the place and Celestial yelled after Trevor cut him with his boot blade on his arm. Celestial landed a few scratches on him and Trevor returned the favor with another nasty blow with his knife. Both of the men were breathing heavily and charged at each other.

Trevor landed a big punch directly on a nasty cut, it was hard enough to make him fall to the ground, clutching his injury and Trevor lifted him up enough to give him the finishing blow. Celestial is knocked out from the pain and Trevor ran toward the burning wreckage of The Slug Tank, calling out for Nadia and Walter’s name. “Crikey, mate. We made it out all safe and sound.” said Walter and Trevor turned with a sigh of relief to see his friends alive. “It’ll take more than that lizard to stop us.” Nadia Grinned and gave him the thumbs up. Trevor grinned back. “Great. Now, let’s help Tyra and finish this fight once and for all.” Neither of the girls was giving up. Tyra was too strong willed with justice and Poe has strong determination to stop her enemies for Horatio. Knives clashing against each other again and Poe got the upper hand and disarmed Tyra. Blade pointed at her throat, Poe was giving her a silence choice between surrendering or die.

Tyra froze and trying to think of a way to save herself from Poe’s wrath and heard a gun going off and black feathers falling to the ground. Poe dropped her knife and glared at Nadia for shooting her in the arm. “You better flee, little birdy. Or I won’t missed in my next shot.” said Nadia. Poe glared at them and at Celestial for losing the fight. She fled, grabbing Celestial along the way and taking flight to the air. Now it was time to take on The Twilight Seeker who was inspecting the burning Slug Tank and roared.

“Where’s Horatio?” Marco yelled and pinned a small Goat Grim against the wall. The young man whimpered out of fear and broke down crying, “He’s in the mansion’s basement. It’s where he can open up stronger Time Rifts and he took the young man and his grandfather with him too. They’re going to return him back where he came from.” The Goat Grim sobbed harder and begged Marco not to shoot him and Marco easily set him on the floor. “Come on before it’s too late.” The Squad and The Ikari Warrior followed him and they ran to the main entrance. They hear Trevor shouting and The Twilight Seeker’s roaring and guns going off. Marco pointed at a door that left opened and ran toward it.

Hellhound leaped from the first floor’s railing and Tarma pulled Marco out of the way when a buffed muscular black dog growled at them. Fiery fists clinched. “Oh no! Master’s orders that I keep all you out of the Rift room.” He growled and hair stood on ends. Bronco soon joins him in his horse form with nostrils flaring. “Very dirty of you to sneak up on me.” he said, standing in a fight position. The Ikari Warriors stepped forward. “Major, your squad go on ahead while we take care of this horse and dog show.” said Ralf, cracking his knuckles and neck. Hellhound smirked, “Oh ya, we’re really going to give you one Hell of a show.”

“Hurry! We only got a few more hits and it’s over.” Trevor shouted and kept firing. The Twilight Seeker slammed its paws and swung its tail at them and they scattered the minute it happens. The Heavy Machine Gun Trevor wield was running low on ammo fast and the chest only showed signs of being covered in bullets and shredding into metal splinters. The gun went click and Trevor got hit and felt his body’s impact against the courtyard wall. The Twilight Seeker walked toward him to finish the job and it got hit in the side of the face with a missile and turn its attention on Nadia with her rocket launcher in hand.

It charged up its beam and threw its head up in pain with a deafening roar. Walter slid under it and blew the chest plate away with one good blast of his shotgun and yelled at Tyra to take it down. Tyra, with a laser gun in hand, aimed truthfully and pulled the trigger. Watching the colorful beam of light pierce through the heart, melting a wider hole into it and bursting out of its back. For good measure, Nadia ran and threw a grenade into The Twilight Seeker’s chest cavity and took cover when it blew up. It cried out in pain, stumbling and swaying from side to side with melting debris dripping out of its chest and crashed itself into the walls. The Twilight Seeker is no more.

“Trevor!” Nadia yelled and ran toward his side and rolled him over. The man was moaning in pain and Walter helped him up and rested his back against the wall. “You’re all right, mate?” Walter asked him and Tyra checked him for any serious injuries. All Trevor could do is look at the deceased body of The Twilight Seeker and grin while giving them a thumbs up, “Great job, everyone. Let’s go help Major Rossi and the others.”

Ralf’s skin and clothes burned from every flaming punch Hellhound hit him and he’s turning up the heat on Ralf. His shirt is covered with burned holes and scorch mark on his arms from all the defending he was doing. Leona, punching and kicking Hellhound had her hair singed and part of her jacket burned from his fiery moves. She wasn’t going let burnt clothes and hair slow her down and fighting him gave Ralf open opportunities to fight back and hitting Hellhound with powerful punches and kicks.

Bronco was not going to let up and let Clark win. The Horse Grim is rather peeved about losing the fight against Clark back on the train and he’s going to make sure that he’s going to win his rematch against Clark. Slamming a hoof on the ground to deliver an earth quaking shock wave, Clark shoved Whip out of the way and took the hit. She cracked her whip to grab hold of Bronco’s wrist and pulled his arm back with all of her strength to stop him from attacking Clark. Bronco overpowered her and yank his arm away hard enough and send the young woman flying.

Clark ran up and grab Bronco from behind and both of them fought and struggle. Bronco headbutted Clark against the jaw and Whip gave Bronco a left hook in the face, stunning the man long enough for Clark to use The Argentine Backbreaker. He swung him over his head and mercilessly threw him like a rag doll and when he came down the third time, he slammed him onto the floor, leaving a crater Bronco badly hurt. Bronco got back to his feet slowly and got himself back in fighting position. Left arm broken but he fought through the pain.

“Any last word before I make you into dog meat?” Said Hellhound, fists flaring and ready to put Ralf and Leona down. Ralf and Leona were breathing heavily and they look at each other and smirked. “Ya, just two words for ya, mutt. Vulcan Punch.” Hellhound charged at him and Ralf landed the first successful punch and he was not going to stop. Hellhound tried and failed to block these breakneck speedy punches and Leona stood behind him with aura glowing on her hands and feet and cut down Hellhound and threw him against Bronco to help out Clark and Whip.

The Grims were defeated and The Ikari Warriors cheered for their victory against them and Trevor and The others soon showed up to join them. “Where Major Rossi?” Trevor asked them. “He went ahead to confront Horatio. Let’s go.” said Ralf. The Mansion shook and a clash of lighting flash against the windows and a howling wind blew. The coming storm Horatio spoke of earlier is brewing and The Squad is running out of time.


	24. Chapter 24

Fio yelled and she stumbled in her steps but lucky for her, she grabbed Marco’s arm to regain her balance. “Sorry.” She said shyly and Marco helped her up with a small smile on his face. The Squad has to walk in a single file down the narrow stairway and the mansion is now shaking violently around them and they knew that the final storm Horatio talked about is brewing and they’re running out of time.

They reached the bottom of the stairs into a small room and Marco jiggled the door knob to find the door locked. Tarma joined him and they both rammed the door together but it refused to budge and they rammed harder. This was frustrating Marco and The Squad and the room shook again and Tarma took his knife out to see if he can pick the lock or trying to turn the knob and slide the knife through the crack to unlock it. Eri looked around the room and stared up at a painting of two people and a church.

One was walking around the church and another person leaning in front of the door. She looked down at the floor and the floor was worn down by multiple walking that’s been done in the past. Eri followed the steps carefully and moved Marco and Tarma to the side and she leans down close enough to the key hole and blew into it. The door softly clicked and all three of them stared at her. “Eri, how did you know?” Fio asked her. “I did some research on how this Year Walk worked and this was part of the ritual and I got some help from that painting too.” she said with a sly smile on her.

Marco pushes the door open and they stepped into a large room with an altar carved out of stone with statues of The Grim Animals stacked on top of each other as pillars to hold the ceiling up and in the center of the altar is a large Time Rift with Jonas, Horatio, and Oguma standing before it. “Stop what you’re doing before you regret it.” Marco shouted and Horatio calmly smirked at him. “Regret what, Mr. Rossi? Returning Kartu where he belongs and stop the storm from happening? I’m afraid that you’re too late and you should be thankful that everything will be back to normal soon.”

Marco shook his head, “I’m afraid I’m not talking to you, Horatio. I’m talking to your grandson, Jonas.” Jonas was unfazed about what Marco was talking about but Horatio and Oguma on the other hand, are confused about what he is talking about and why is he singling out Jonas. Even his Squad wanted to know what Marco is up to and Tarma, feeling like he knew The Major all his life, was curious to hear what Marco has dug up on Jonas.

“Pretty clever, Jonas. You follow along with your Grandfather’s plan while hiding the pain of seeing your friend again but yet being forced to send him off to the day he died. Even your plans to plant a spell to send me foreshadowing messages to scare me off about my oncoming but yet avoided death didn’t work well. You knew that your grandfather was going to be all right but yet you didn’t plan for me being a stubborn person who wants to know who’s doing all of this and why,”

Marco folded his arms, “You’re planning going back in time to prevent his death and kill Oguma once and for all. You’re only playing along so you won’t alarm Kartu about what you’re about to do even though he now knows who his murderer is. To me, it’s pointless now to go back and correct this mess you started now he knows the full story.” All Jonas did is gave Marco a slow clap while darkly looking at him. “You’re my grandson’s murderer?” Oguma spoke with bewildering in his voice. “I knew that you Grims will one day to come and kill me but taking Kartu’s life, I never dream it’ll happen.”

“Oh, shut up. Kartu wasn’t suppose to be with you on the day of his death. I set up a phony meeting with him so I can get him out of harm’s way and have you exterminated. To keep my friend safe from our plans to have you killed and dismantle you disgusting parasitic tower torn to pieces. I don’t know why he was there but my life fell apart the minute he stepped in front of my blade that was meant for you. Yes, I panic and he was dying right before me. So without thinking, I opened up a time rift in hopes that it’ll either slow down his death or stop it at all cost. I threw off Time and Space just to save my friend and now I’m going back to make sure this whole event never happens by killing you!” Jonas’s eyes widen and pointing at Oguma.

“You can’t do that! You can’t go and play God with people’s lives all because you made a fatal mistake. If Kartu was here right now, he’ll refuse to let you go back and kill his grandfather. What kind of friend would do that to each other?” Eri snarled at Jonas and the young man stamped his feet on the ground, “Oh you stupid pathetic humans. You’re all nothing but a waste of time to me and your lives are never worth keeping records over. I would rather let this world die than living in it with you miserable creatures with your greed and wars and taking lives from each other.”

“Jonas that’s enough!” Horatio barked at him with a stern expression on his face, “It’s over, grandson. He’s not coming back and I’m shocked to hear that you were friends with our enemy’s grandson all this time. That explains why you were being so quiet and uncooperative with me during our investigation.” He huffed, “Mr.Rossi, stop now and take Oguma with you. He has seen him for the last time and I want to put this to-”

Horatio never got to finish. Jonas let out a frustrating scream and created a large ring of Time Rifts around him and made it spun at rapid speed. He jumped into one and Horatio yelled out his name and soon followed after him along with Oguma to see if he can help. Marco and The Squad gave chase after them to stop Jonas from what chaotic mess he might cause in those time rifts. They landed in the swinging Twenties and spotted Jonas and ran through the speak easy and into another time rift he jumped in.

They all landed in the fifties and gave chase through the streets and passing old cars and Greasers with women in Poodle skirts and jump through a time rift again. They now landed in the battlefield of the Civil War, passing through soldiers and cannons going off and people dying around them. Marco yelled out at Jonas to stop but The Young Man ignored him and went through another one. Horatio and Oguma showed up and group with Marco’s Squad and pass through The Time Rift. Jonas was getting sick of the senseless chase he started and he turned and created multiples times rifts over each one of them.

One by one, Marco’s Squad, along with Horatio and Oguma, disappeared and Marco yelled after falling through one himself. He grabbed hold of the ground and fought against it to pull himself up but it was too strong and it sucked him in and closed up.

Ralf kicked the door down and they found the basement empty of life. They walked around the room, trying to find any sign where Marco and The Squad went along with Horatio and his grandson. Trevor looked at The Time Rift on the Altar and wondered if they went through it to go after them. The room shook around them and plastered crumbled away. “We better find them quick and stop this.” said Clark, looking around the room and walked toward The Time Rift too. Nadia cocked her head and walked toward the faint ring of time rifts. Reaching out to touch one of them and they all froze after hearing a low growl.

All armed with guns and pointing toward The Time Rift, Clark and Trevor moved away from it when a large phantom paw burst right through it and dug its nasty claws into the stone floor. It let out a blood chilling massive roar and another paw popped out to grab hold on the side of The Time Rift and tried to pull itself out. Ralf ordered everyone to stand their ground, aim, and fire their weapons off.

Marco landed on his bottom and found himself on the streets of Twin Falls, Idaho. His home town and state back in The United States. He steadies himself and walked down the familiar streets and buildings he walked by so many times through out his life. Everything is frozen in time from the people walking to the birds flying. He passed his old school building, the local computer repair shop he used to worked in when he was a teen, and then down the sidewalk with houses neatly in a row and came to his childhood home. It did felt great to be back home away from the war and the chaos but he got a job to do.

He came upon his home and pushed open the gate and found a Time Rift standing before him. No way out of here, Marco got ready and walked through it. Eri walked through the Alley ways of Hiroshima, Japan, and zig-zag through it with no problem. They were her old escape route whenever her and the gang stole food to survive and she hopped over an old fence and stood in the middle of the road. She let out a small puff of hair to blow a few strand of hair out of her eyes and looked at the buildings and everyone frozen in time.

She strolls over to a spot she recognizes all so well and lifted the thin metal sheet up and found her old hide out. She spotted a Time Rift in the middle of it and without hesitating, reached out and touch it. Back in a familiar place from his previous experience with The Time Rift, Tarma took his time looking around his Grandfather’s home and soaking in all of the fond memories of the place. The grassy hills, the forest surrounding, the dirt road leading to and from his grandfather’s home, and Patches peacefully sleeping on the steps. He knows where The Time Rift is but yet he wanted to get one good long look of the place before leaving.

Fio is back home. Her garden, her large mansion home that’s been in the Germi family for decades, the polish floor. Everything that she missed from home. She was giggling like a school girl seeing all of this again as if she was looking at a photograph of home. She smiled and looked around her home and stop in front of all of the military portraits of her ancestors and frowned. She wants to be home but yet in the back of her mind, her home won’t be here if she doesn’t go back and help her friends win this war, let alone let the universe fall apart and have nothing to go back to. She sighed and put on a brave face and adjusted her cap.

She explored the mansion looking for The Time Rift and even looked in the closet for it too. Not knowing where to look next, she headed upstairs and looked into each room, with her bed room being the last place to check and opens the door to find The Time Rift waiting for her. She closed the door behind her and gathering her courage, she took big steps, reached out and touch The Time Rift.

One-by-one, a Time Rift opened up and first came Marco, follow by Tarma, then Eri, and last came Fio. All four of them landing one big pile on top of each other and Fio gasped and crawled off of it while apologizing to her friends and helping Eri off of Tarma. Tarma pushed himself off of Marco and helped his friend back on his feet and Marco pulled himself up with the help of his friend. They brush the dirt off their uniforms and check each other for any injuries. “So where are we now?” Fio asked, checking her glasses for scratches and cracks.

“Well, we’re in some forest but none that I recognize from anywhere.” Tarma replied to her question while examining the plant life around them to get a better idea. “We better keep moving if we’re going to catch up with Jonas.” Said Marco, adjusting his backpack and found a trail to follow on. The forest is full of life and lush with plants of all kinds. Birds sang and flew around them and squirrels scurry around trees and chasing each other while chattering up a storm. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and a lone child goat Grim is practicing his magic on a sapling.


	25. Chapter 25

The Sapling will grow as far as The Grim wanted it to grow and then he would reverse it back to its normal size and make it grow again. If he forces it to grow too fast, the sapling will die and this wasn’t his first one that died on him. He left the plant alone, for now, to give the sapling a break from his magic and moved on to his next spell, the spell to freeze time on a living being. Birds will be too much of a risk cause they can fall out of the sky and break their necks and squirrels make a better target practice due to their speed.

The Young Boy wore a handmade hooded cloak with the hood to look like a goat’s head. The knees on his pants are messed up with dirt from kneeling over the sapling and his hair needs to be combed out and free of knots and leaves. He heard something from the bushes and resorted to his human form and armed himself with a nearby stick to get ready to attack. Coming out of the bushes was another young boy, white shirt stained with dirt and scratches on his arms and legs. “Who are you?” The boy in hooded cape spoke to him, “And what are you doing in my grandfather’s forest?”

“I-I’m sorry. My name is Kartu and I got lost in the forest. I’m trying to get back to my grandfather and I didn’t mean to trespass on your home.” The Young boy spoke and tried to brush the dirt off his shirt. He lowers his stick and tossed it to the side, “Well, I’m Jonas and I want you out of our forest.” He heard Kartu sniffle and tears were beginning to form in his eyes and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He did say that he was lost after all. He sighed, “But Grandpa will be mad at me if I don’t help those who get lost in the woods. Come on, I’ll show you how to get out of here and get you on the right path.”

The Young Boy wiped the tears away and thanks Jonas for helping him find his way back to his grandfather, “I like your goat hood or by its scientific name, Capra aegagrus hircus.” Jonas was surprised to see anyone using a scientific name for the common goat and being a goat grim himself. He was more impressed to see a kid his age using these words too. “Thanks, my mom made it for me since I like goats a lot.” he said and slipped the hood on to show off the buttons eyes and hand made plush horns. It made Kartu giggled at the sight of the cute hand made hoodie and it made Jonas smiled too.

“I think goats are cool animals. Looking out for each other, climbing on rocks, and headbutting each other to see who’s the strongest.” Kartu smiled at Jonas. The Time Rift changed the scenery around The Squad and showing the boys’ friendship grew over time between meeting. Jonas would take notes and ask Kartu which scientific names of the plants and animals. Oh to be young and loving nature warms Tarma’s heart and seeing the boys enjoying the great out doors. The Boys would talk, laugh, and play all day.

As the scene went on, The Time Rift shown the boys now grown into young men, deep into their conversation and they can see the somber expression on their faces. “You’re a Tuaha De Dunan? You’re too kind and concerning for others to be one.” said Jonas, trying to grasp on this new found knowledge about his friend and Kartu shook his head, “I’m sorry I kept it as a secret for too long and I confess, I hate what my grandfather and my race is doing to this world. Breaking Time and Space for our race’s selfish goal while others are robbed of their own history and lives. I even thought it over about how our two race could maybe work things out and help create a better world.

Jonas got up and paced about around the stump he was sitting on. He gazed at the fireflies flying around the small pond, blinking their small lights against the fading sunset and he looked at Kartu again, “I want to work with you, Kartu to keep this world safe and sound and to make it a better place for all to live in but I don’t know if my grandfather would agree to work with your grandfather since us Grim hate your race with such bitterness.”

Kartu nodded in agreement, “Give me a chance to talk to my grandfather, he’s an understanding man and maybe with both of our race’s knowledge combined, we can preserve everyone history and still keep my race from destroying itself.” Jonas was so pumped to hear about Kartu’s plan that it might work for everyone. “That is the best plan I ever heard, Kartu. Let’s put this in motion and end this senseless killing of this planet forever.” This idea gets better for the men and they high five each other before they said goodnight to each other and head back home.

The scene glitched and the once tranquil forest they were in turned into a lab like computer room with Jonas in shock and Kartu clutching his wound with blood dripping through his hand after saving his grandfather’s life and Jonas, out of fright, opened up a time rift and the scene froze and glitched again. Puzzled about what’s going on here, they heard something cracking.

A small crack appeared in front of The Squad and in unison, they grabbed their guns as the crack got bigger. “Something’s not right and I got a bad feeling we’ll be fighting for our lives.” said Marco, aiming and getting ready for what would burst through that crack in Time and Space. It grew bigger, and shards started to fall out of it and then The Time Rift shattered like shard glass and The Ikari Warriors and the remaining of The PF Squad and Sparrow fell through with Oguma, Horatio, and Jonas. A deafening roar shook everyone and The New Rift sucked up the old one, trapping them all in a dimension between rifts.

“Trevor! Is everyone all right?” Said Marco and yanked him away in time when a phantom paw slammed against the ground, “We got bigger problems to deal with, Major and it’s coming at us hard.” Two heads burst through the opening, The Dusk Eater and The Twilight Seeker. Roaring in unison and pulling their fused bodies freely out of The Rift and taking flight. Horrified for what Horatio is witnessing before them, the essence of the mechanical beasts’ mixed together to create a new one. Monsters that should of stay dead and in the past.

“Where did we gone wrong with our plans?” Horatio whispered as the battle of life or death begins.


	26. Chapter 26

The dragon glide through the air and they swooped down, breathing out lighting and fire at everyone down below. The Squad and Ikari Warriors dodged the fierce attack and fired their guns at will. They were sitting ducks with no way to take covers and they only got their hand guns and no grenades to throw. Ralf and Marco were already trying to put together a plan to take this hybrid dragon down and stop Time and Space from collapsing. “How are we going to kill this thing?” Tarma shouted over the storm’s wrath and Fio yelled and jumped out of the way when it landed.

It was a losing fight from the start in Horatio and Jonas’s mind but Oguma gave them second thoughts when he spoke up, “I know you Grims have the ability to open and close up time rifts and now will be the time to open them up and find powerful weapons and slug vehicles for them to use.” Horatio looked at him and then at Jonas and back at the fight, “It’ll buy them some time until I figure out what we need to do to reverse the real damage.” Horatio spoke softly and transform into his Grim form with his Grandson.

One swipe of its paw and it took Clark down like a house of cards, but Clark was back on his feet again and firing his gun. “We have to find its weakness!” Marco shouted and feeling the heavy impact of its tail. He clutched his head and tried to get up, he gasped when he saw the tail coming down at him and rolled to the side to avoid getting killed. “Everyone, look!” Eri shouted and they saw more Time Rifts opening up and weapon supplies and slug vehicles being brought out for them to use. They ran and grabbed as much stuff as they can and Marco climbed into the Slug Tank and the engine roared to life and took off firing at the dragon. The Dusk Eater’s head roared and spit up fire balls at it and The Twilight Seeker’s head aimed to bite down at Nadia.

Nadia screamed and prepared to be snatched up by it jaws till Hellhound intervene and slammed his firing fist into its face, “Now that’s what I call a hot dog.” Nadia giggled and returned to fighting. Bronco, Celestial, and Poe joined in the fight, offering to help to defeat the beast and restore peace in Time and Space. Marco zoomed around the monster, firing away and shooting shells at it wings to keep it grounded and giving everyone a fighting chance against it. “You think they can kill it, Grandfather?” Jonas asked him, looking at him with concern and Horatio sighed. He’s feeling tired from opening all of those Time Rifts and hope for the best.

Oguma heard footsteps and turned around and gave out a cry of delight and hugged Kartu tightly in his arms, “Kartu! You came back. I thought you returned to where you belong. What are you doing here?” Oguma said, holding Kartu’s shoulders. The Young Man looked tired as if he hasn’t slept in years and he rubbed his eyes and saw the raging battle in front of them. “The-The Universe was right. I did make it on time to help fix this chaos and restore peace.” Raising eye brows, Horatio ordered Jonas to go and help the others with The Time Rifts since he’s too tired to help anymore.

“What are you talking about, Karu? What’s this about The Universe talking to you?” Worrying about what his Grandson is saying and his mental health. Kartu stared at Horatio, trying to find the right word to say to him and swallowed his parched throat. “The Universe, for some reason, wanted to talk to me after you sent me back to the past and it explained everything about what’s going on and the truth about Jonas’ plans and how I got here in the present time. The Universe is furious about you getting Jonas, a Young Grim in training, involved in your plans to kill my Grandfather and not looking deep into the future to see how it’ll go.”

Kartu’s breathing was shallow and he took another deep breath, “The Universe said, in order to fix all of this, one of you have to give up your life to restore balance in Time and Space. It’s either you or Jonas.” Horatio’s knees felt weak, the answer was finally given to him but not like this, not when his Grandson’s life is involved. The Grim was deep in his thoughts and he looked up to see Jonas fighting for their lives and thought it over more carefully and closed his eyes. Jonas did open up a Time Rift and threw Kartu in it to be sent to the present to save his life but yet it was Horatio who drew up the plans to have Oguma killed, not Kartu and worst of all, he never used his sight of the future to see if the plans will work or not.

Jonas suffered enough as it is and he lived with his guilt and regrets and taking his life will be going too far and he’s a young man with a whole life to fulfilled and Horatio, he saw it all. Man’s triumphs and failures, war breaking out and peace being restored, towns being made and abandoned, and the day when he was there to hold Jonas in his arms when he was born. Horatio did lead a full life but the best part of his life of it all is being there to watch Jonas growing up and caring for him. He turned to Kartu with a sorrowed look in his eyes, “Did The Universe said anything about what will happen to you?”

Kartu shrugged, “It said that it’ll have words with either of you about what will happen to me. Depending on who’s going to be the one to give up their life.” Horatio closed his eyes again and straighten up. “It’s settled then. Jonas has been punished enough with the guilt and grief of your death even if he sent you here to the present in hopes of saving your life and putting Time and Space out of balance.

“You’re giving your life up then. Horatio, I know our race hate each other for as long as we can remember and we never knew about our Grandsons’ friendship they hid from us,” Oguma paused and then let out a small smile, “But I’m glad that Kartu has a great friend like Jonas and maybe our race could have worked something out together.” Oguma offered a hand to Horatio and The Grim accept it and shook it. “I agree, Oguma and I am glad that Jonas has a wonderful friend like Kartu. He showed me that not all of you are evil.”

Horatio straightens his suit up and walked toward the battle. It felt like everything was in slow motion, the world coming to a stand still to Horatio while fight went on. Jonas even saw him and ran after him but he was blown away by The Dragons’ wrath. He got back on his feet and ran toward him, yelling out to his Grandfather and grabbing his arm, “Grandfather, what are you doing?” Jonas questioned him and Horatio gave him an assuring smile and hugs him, “Kartu came back and The Universe delivered him here to give us the answer to help fix all of this.”

Jonas looked behind him and saw him and then back at his Grandfather, “But what are you doing? What answer are you talking about?” He can see his Grandson is confused and he lean close enough to whisper it to him and Jonas’ eyes widen, “No, you can go. Let me give up my life since I-” Horatio held up a hand to silence him, “Jonas. I’m old, I watched mankind raised and fall, life and death before my eyes, and the good and bad in this world. But you, my Grandson. You got a life ahead of you and it’s your turn to witness the best and worst of mankind and I need you to stay here, to help clean up the aftermath of this fight. Jonas, you’re a smart man who can do anything and I forgive you for the secret you kept about Kartu when you were growing up.”

Tears streamed from Jonas’ eyes, “It’s all fault. I killed my friend by accident, I destroyed Time and Space, and now you’re fixing my mistake by giving your life up to The Universe.” Horatio hugged Jonas again and rubbed his back, “Jonas, you suffered enough by living with this guilt and now it’s for you let it go and find the strength to move on. I always love you, Jonas.” He said with tears. Jonas hugged him tight, “I love you too, Grandfather.” Jonas felt a Runkavle taking effect, he’s frozen in place and he knew why and tried to shout to his Grandfather.

It was futile and Horatio waved good bye to his Grandson, “Good bye, Jonas. Take good care of everyone while I’m gone and I’m always proud of you.” Horatio turned his attention toward The Dragon and The Time Rift, “Here I am, Universe. I, Horatio Kronos, thereby to forfeit my life in order to pay for my crime against Time and Space. Please, spare my Grandson and the humans who fought long and hard to keep this world from destroying itself. Take me and spare them all.” Everyone stopped fighting and they witness Horatio dissolving into dust and being sucked into The Time Rift. As the last of him disappeared, Fio gasped and shouted. “Marco! The Dragon is falling apart.”


	27. Chapter 27

First, The Dusk Eater’s mouth was puffing out smoke and shooting sparks to get its fire going again. Gasoline leaked everywhere from its severed tubes and stray sparks of fire fell into it, setting the tubes on fire and blowing up The Dusk Eater’s head. The Twilight Seeker’s jaw comes undone and fell to the ground, shooting rays of sparks wildly into the air and swinging its head around like someone doesn’t know how to use a whip properly. They stumbled, tripping over their feet, leaving themselves expose to be finished off.

Marco took the opportunity and slam his fist on the self-destruct button and the Slug Tank eject him out of his seat and it spun off toward The Dragon and blew the monster up into little pieces. The pieces rain down around them but it never touched the ground as they were sucked up one by one into The Time Rift before it closed up. The storm’s rampancy petered out and the rumbling of the storm grew faint in the distance and the dimension they were trapped inside brought them all back to their world with clear sky above them and outside in the court yard of Horatio’s home.

Everything was drench in rain water and the weapons that were brought through Time Rifts faded away out of their hands to go back where they came from. “It’s over. We save our timeline from destroying itself with Horatio’s help. Whatever he did to save it that is.” said Tarma, sitting on the ground to catch his breath and let his legs rest from all the running he did in the fighting. “Kartu came back to deliver a message to Horatio on how to fix the chaos they created. One of them must forfeit their life in order to bring balance and Horatio gave his life up since Jonas suffered enough and Horatio lived a long life.” said Oguma, pity in his eyes while looking at Jonas by himself.

“Kartu came back? Where is he?” Fio asked him while looking around the courtyard for any sight of him and Oguma looked away at them without saying another word. “Oguma, I’m sorry that you lost Kartu again.” said Marco, seeing the pain in Oguma after losing his grandson for the second time in his life. “I’ll be okay, Mr.Rossi. It’s Jonas I’m more concern about.” He pointed at the young man, all alone in silence grief and staring at the spot where the Time Rift once stood. Not moving, not saying a word. Just silence.

Jonas tried to fight the sorrow off but it was it overwhelmed him and he wiped away the tears from his eyes to stop them. He felt a pair of arms around and pulled him into a tight hug. It was Poe, hugging him while gently stroking his hair and then Hellhound join in the hug and then Celestial joined, and Bronco kneels down and embraced Jonas in a hug too. Jonas surprised by this, all Jonas could do is wrap his arms around some of theirs and close his eyes and cry. “It’s all right, Jonas. You held it all in for too long and it’s time to let it all out. We’re here to help you out.” said Bronco and he pulled them all in for one big hug.

Jonas opened one eye and he can see The Squad and The Ikari Warriors watching them along with Oguma and Bronco and the others let him go so he can get up and walk toward them. He stopped and took a deep breath, “I’m sorry for putting you all through this and risking your lives all because of me. You humans are not all horrible human beings like General Morden and his army. From the strong dedication you all had for Kartu to help him out, even if he has to go back to the day he died. It was like as if we all have the same agreement that we both want him to live while at the same time trying to fix the past.”

Marco frowned, he is right and Marco does have a stubborn reputation for wanting to save all life on this planet, rescue every POW from every enemy he fought against, and even going as far as risking his neck to save civilians from The Rebel’s hostile take over of their homes. Marco also had learned the hard way that not everyone could be saved. “Jonas, we took great care of Kartu. We kept him safe and feel at home at our Head Quarters and gave him the medical check up he needed when we first found him and fed him too. We even got to know him better too during his stay.” Jonas couldn’t help but to crack a smile and wipe the tears away with the palm of his hand, “You did more than fight for your lives, you all fought to keep on dreaming for a better future when those gave up or died.”

“And we’re going to keep on fighting till those dreams become a reality.” said Marco with a smile.

“Praise the Saints! The Falcons and The Sparrows made it back alive!” Kevin shouted with delight and gave out his familiar hardy laugh. After they requested copter pick up from The Hawk Unit, The Ikari Warriors bid their farewells and boarded on their copter and flew off back to Head Quarters. It was soon that Kevin showed up and helped the ladies board the copter and then helped Marco and Tarma with Trevor after he started complaining of feeling pain all over his body thanks to The Twilight Seeker. Kevin helped Oguma on board before closing the doors and they took flight too.

Kevin was eager to hear their story but Marco told him they will once they get some rest and medical check ups all around. Kevin understood and he even promised them all a feast in their honor for saving the world again from falling apart. Oguma was delighted to join them but yet he has to get back home to his business and wanted some alone time after what he went through and seeing his Grandson for the last time again. They were quiet and Kevin gave him his condolence for his lost. When they got back to The Hawk Unit’s base, the news spread quickly of The Squad’s heroic deeds and every member of the unit came out to cheer praise their names in loud chants.

Rasha, who leg is still in a cast and using a crutch to get around only stood in silence as The Squad walked toward and she gave Marco and The Squad a huge grin and patted his shoulder with her free hand, “Come on, we got a feast going to keep you all fed for a whole year.” she laughed and lead the way to the mess hall. She wasn’t kidding, they got food and drinks all spread out in front of them and the whole room lit up with life. Everyone was laughing, talking, and singing too. Trevor later joined them and told Marco and Tarma that he’ll out of commission for awhile till his ribs healed up.

“You did a great job leading the team while we were gone, Sergeant Spacey.” Marco praised him and The Young Man blushed and looked away, “Just helping out, sir.” He said sheepishly and Kevin laughed and patted him so hard that he almost fell over and face first into a plate of food. “Sorry, lad. I’ll be gentle next time.” he laughed nervously. They ate and drink until their stomach ache of food and they were given rooms to stay in for the night.

Marco soaked himself in the bath tub and they provided him some bandages and gauze for his stitches to replace the old one. It felt good to soak himself and relax and he opened his eyes a bit and stare down at his chest. He wondered if Morden will leave his ugly marks on him like how Allen O'Neil left his on his stomach back in the early days of the war when he stood between him and Tarma and felt that cold blade cutting into his flesh. He’ll have to see later on when the stitches come out. All he wants to do is wash up and go to bed.

“So I see that the Higher ups are giving us some vacation time until they come crawling back to us in case Morden wants to cut it short.” said Tarma, propping his legs up on Marco’s work desk in his Computer lab as he read the letter out loud to him. It’s been two weeks after The Squad risked their lives to save the world. No words about The Rebels or where did General Morden disappeared to after they witness Horatio’s wrath after Morden shot him on sight. The news did come out that Oguma Corp and Kronos Corp have ended their long rivalry and agreed to help each other out on making the world a better place.

More news came when Kronos Corp announced Jonas Kronos as the new owner of the company. Jonas came up with a story about his Grandfather passing away in his sleep and they held a private funeral for him, The Squad admitted that it was a good cover up to keep The Grim race a secret from the world and not exposing the truth about Horatio’s passing. That’s all the news talked about most of the day is the companies and Horatio’s passing and Jonas taking over. The Squad spent the remainder of their day packing and talking about where they are going on their vacations.

Eri is going home with Tarma to see his parents and explore his home island while Fio is going home to see her parents too and get caught on current events and as for Marco. He was planning to go to Chicago as a tourist but he wants to stop by his home town of Twin Falls first to see how his home town been before he left for war. They got together at Club Swamp, their favorite bar that was created by a Military Chef who crafted his own drinks and makes fancy food they stole from The Higher Up and the place was dedicated to his favorite show, M*A*S*H. They talked and laughed together and drank beer and ice tea. (Fio was ordering ice tea for herself.)

They bid each other good night and they would see each other in the morning for the last time before their trips. Marco sat on his bed and took his boots off and undress and got into bed and pulled the covers in. He asked the computer to turn the lights off and they did and he drifted off to sleep.

In Marco’s dreams he was in a beautiful forest full of life and a small path to lead him to a clearing, he followed the small road and he heard the distance barking and baaing and it grew louder as he got near. In the clearing, he saw a black puppy and black baby goat, running and playing with each other. Marco saw a figure in the woods and turn his attention toward it. It was an old black goat, watching the baby animals playing and he stared at him and turned and walked away.

It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining. Birds are singing. The Children are playing.

Mission all over.

_I want to thank you all for reading Past Life and giving it a chance to grow and progress and compliments that gave me the powerful encouragement to get over my writing anxiety and sticking with me through my trials and errors and events that happened in my life. I want to thank my BBF, Kuppajunia for being the most wonderful friend ever who gave me word of encouragement and support to help me get back into writing. Epilogue will be coming soon._


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Epilogue of Past Life. Thank you all for reading.

_“I want to make a deal with you that will truly fix everything. Are you willing to listen, Universe?”_

Jonas was exhausted and felt like he wanted to go to sleep forever. Press conferences, signing papers, announcements to give to the public about his Grandfather’s passing, he even stayed up late to come up with faulty stories about how he passed away and picked the more believable story about him passing away suddenly in his sleep. It’s was a common one and easy to fool humans with since unexpected sudden death is most heard of in the medical world.

It was nice to be back in the office to relax and be away from the flashing cameras, swarming news reporters, talking to lawyers and signing papers with Oguma. It was everything he was willing to put a lot of effort into to make his and Kartu’s dream come true to see their race working together to make the world a better place and Oguma been a big help to him to bring it into as reality. He helped him with the press conference even though Jonas has experience with it in the past when his Grandfather was alive but the questioning was too much for him this time around.

The Secretary was kind to bring Jonas something to drink without being ordered to bring him one and since Jonas isn’t fond of hard drinks, she brought him his favorite smoothie and he thanked her for it. “It’s a hard day work, isn’t it Jonas?” Oguma chuckled and seeing the young man leaning in his office chair. “I never knew that my Grandfather worked like this none stop when I was growing up and handling all of the Grim work too,” he took a sip of his drink, “All he has me to do is handle press conferences and fetch papers for him. He did show me the ropes of the business well too.”

Oguma smiled and nodded and Jonas got out of his chair walked toward the table and sat down again across from him, “Okay, give me the run down about your company’s research on improving vaccine that can combat against stronger illnesses.” he spoke and looked the papers over and Oguma began to explain the background of the research and the trial and errors they went through with it. As they discuss half way through about the vaccine research and how they can make it better with fewer errors to deal with, they heard a knock on the door.

“Ugh, I swear. If it’s another annoying news reporter wanting to ask me the same old questions that I answered a thousand times, I’m going to sock them good.” Jonas raised out of his chair quickly and he storms toward the door and he swung it wide. He opens his mouth to get ready to yell but he left it hanging open and Oguma got up to see what was stopping him from yelling at them and he too was taken by surprise.

“Heh, can an old friend get a hug here?” Kartu smiled.

End of Epilogue


End file.
